


The Royals

by Thatonedude



Series: The Royals Series [1]
Category: No Fandom, Original Fiction - Fandom, Original Story, Original Work, Uncategorized - Fandom, kind of original concept, no specific fandom, non fandom
Genre: Adopted Character, Angst, Arch Enemies, Awkward Boners, Bisexual Characters, Chicago, Colorado, Cuddling, F/M, Fluff, Friendship Developement, Gay Character, Gen, Ghouls, Hunters, M/M, Multi, No Sex, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Original Female Characters - Freeform, Original Fiction, Original Male Character - Freeform, People of color all over the place, Please read me, Rivalry, Royal Blood, Sexual Confusion, Sirens, Someone thinks they're going crazy, Supernatural - Freeform, Urban Fantasy, Werewolves, You Are My Sunshine, lots of people keeping secrets, rich people problems, self discovery, sibling relationships, wendigoes, will add more tags as story progresses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-11-19
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 70,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4302918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatonedude/pseuds/Thatonedude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When campers start dying in the Colorado woods, Avery and Roslyn Bishops decide to investigate. They come from a long line of supernatural hunters. Their family is part of an elite society called The Royals. Now Avery and Roz must face things much darker than supernatural creatures, the other hunting families and the politics that come with power. But will Avery be able to maintain his multiplying mental problems hidden long enough to make it through this hunt, or will he lose his mind and cost everyone involved their lives?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1 Victorian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two young hunters Roz and Avery face their first hunt alone without parent supervision. Will they be able to handle a nest of ghouls?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive me but I originally intended to have the story be first person from Avery's point of view but decided to change it in about chapter 10 I went back and changed things but I know I missed a bunch or "my and I" words so please over look that as I do rewrites in the future.

Chapter 1: Victorian

"Are you ready?" Roz asked handing her brother Avery his bag. It was a gift she had given him when he turned fifteen, but it wasn't until recently that he began using it. He hadn’t really had a reason to. It wasn't his fault though, most parents don't let their kids carry around loaded weapons, their parents were no different even if they were hunters. He opened it and began equipping the knives inside into their holsters strapped all around his upper body. She looked herself over in the reflection of her SUV. Her hair seemed more golden in the midafternoon light, it made her smile. She pulled it tightly into a ponytail. She was not going to let it get in her way this time. When she was happy w9ith how it looked he started to arm herself as well. She had parked behind a large dumpster to make sure nobody saw them. Pulling out a bunch of weapons in broad daylight was not well accepted by most normal people. "Everything needs to go smoothly." She lectured tugging on her jacket, leather of course. Hunters have a thing for leather. Mostly because it makes them feel more badass, but it also helped protect their skin from anything sharp while fighting. She zipped it up enough so that it would fall of with quick movements but so she could still get her weapons quickly from underneath it. "None of that freezing up crap!" She warned. Her younger brother rolled his eyes, the thought of Roz scolding him was laughable. She had made all of the same mistakes he had made at his age. She was only a few years older, she had no authority over him. She always played the older sibling card on him as if being three years older meant she had a substantial amount of life experience more than he did. 

"Roz, I was fourteen!" He scoffed. Not to mention it had been his first hunt ever. “That was seven years ago.” Of course she was bringing this up now minutes before they were about to start. "Besides nobody died." She gave him an emotionless face and handed him several guns to hide under his clothing. The cold metal on his skin made him shiver but his body heated them up after a few seconds. She stuffed her silver chain into her sleeve. Her weapon of choice. They both liked unconventional forms of attacks. They felt it gave them a small edge when fighting one on one. 

"Ave, this is our first hunt by ourselves, no parents." She took her necklace with their family emblem and hid it under her shirt. He did the same, if they came across the wrong people their pendants would be a dead giveaway of who they really were. Their mom had given the necklaces to them as children, they were small circles with very fancy, very detailed B's in the center of them. B for Bishops. Bishops was a legendary name in the hunting and supernatural community. Roslyn and Avery had a lot resting on their shoulders, soon they would be expected to take over and lead as their parents the generation before them. At least Roz was. The big hunting families in the community were big on family bloodlines. The majority of the families went back hundreds of years, several generations. Some of them weren't very ecstatic when the Bishops clan decided to adopt the little Latino orphan leftover from one of their hunts. Avery's birth mother had been killed by a pack of something's, he didn't know anything about his birth father. His adoptive parents constantly reminded him that despite his DNA he was a Bishops none the less. He had to constantly remind himself of that growing up. Luckily it was nice he had a tough older sister who beat anyone up who said otherwise. Even if he basically towered over her now. She always talked about being tall for a girl. 5'8" was taller than most girls but at 6'2" she still came up short compared to him. Unless she wore her beloved hooker heels, which she often did. 

"I'll try my best captain, my captain!" He saluted her mockingly. She smiled shaking her head and placed an arm around his shoulder and lead him away from her SUV. He heard her lock the doors as they walked away.

"Look, if we pull this off successfully, we will be the first of our generation to be off on our own." They slowly made their way down the streets of Milwuakee. It was quiet for the most part. All they heard was their own footsteps. There was not many people out which would be good for them in case things got out of hand. "We could show the others that we are not a duo to be messed with." She steered him around the corner towards their destination. It was an old Victorian home, abandoned, and foreclosed years ago. It was now crawling with ghouls. "I know you want to have something like that to hold over the others' heads." She laughed. She was right. Bragging rights were the most important thing for them from this situation. "We are the best of the best, it’s time to prove it." The Victorian kept getting closer as they walked. It was bigger than he had expected. It looked just like any abandoned home they had seen in movies growing up, dirty, dead grass, boarded windows. It was a little cliché to be honest. Sometimes supernatural creatures were a little too predictable. They kept their eyes peeled as they approached the living Hollywood cliché. To those around them, they seemed like any two other people just talking and joking around but they were making sure that there was no other supernatural creatures in the area. Being ill-prepared was the number one reason for a hunter's death. They had really only prepared for a nest of ghouls. Any surprise monsters and their first hunt could be their last. 

Ghouls were essentially mindless zombies with an appetite for flesh. This specific nest had been luring innocent people into one of the nearby cemeteries to kill and eat. Ten people in the city of Milwaukee had been found there torn to shreds. The local police had ruled them as animal attacks but hunters knew better. Eventually the cemetery became too dangerous for the ghouls and they relocated to this Victorian. Several more deaths had occurred in the area surrounding this home. Roz and Avery had watched the area for several days and decided now was the time to go-with their father's approval of course. They may have been alone but they had their parents there almost every step of the way for support and Intel. They had counted at least six ghouls living in the Victorian. 

"Let's do this." She said placing her hand on her gun. He took one last scan of the area before opening the door for her. It was their usual plan of attack, she went in first to make sure the immediate area was clear while he kept his eyes behind them to avoid surprise attacks from getting them. They stayed back to back with their weapons held steady directly in front of them. The front door lead into a large foyer with archways leading in several different directions. She remained in place so he could check the first archway. He moved towards the one farthest on the right, it was the parlor room. Or at least it used to be. The place was a mess, garbage and debris everywhere, it looked like a bomb had gone off inside. The walls smeared with what looked like charcoal. Couch stuffing lay all over the ground, the couch was nowhere to be found. 

"Clear." He whispered back stepping towards her and turning to the next archway, it led to a large solarium. The once beautiful stained glass windows were now boarded up with only slivers of light fighting through to the inside. The room was as repulsive as the last. As gross as it looked he pushed passed the aesthetics and searched for anything that moved. Nothing. "Clear." He repeated turning slightly to the last archway. It looked like what used to be a dining room. The table was still intact but the chairs lay shattered around it. Glass covering the majority of the floor. A chandelier dangled from the ceiling from a very small wire. Avery expected it to come collapsing down any second now. Besides all of that the room was also clear. He walked back to his sister. "Roz, it smells musty and like mildew in here." He said disgusted. Roz scanned the area one last time. She nodded towards the stairs leading to the second story. 

"Of course it does, it’s an abandoned house." She started walking towards it.

"Yes," He said slowly as if talking to a child, "but ghouls are supposed to smell of rotten flesh." He pointed towards the dining room pointing to the door at the other end. He wanted to keep searching the first floor before moving to the second. "This place should reek." That got her to stop and think. "We should find the basement that has to be where the nest is." He suggested. She nodded and the two moved towards the door. She stopped right in front of it and counted to three to ready as they readied themselves. He opened the door slowly. Nothing. They walked into an empty kitchen. Things were not going as they had expected.

"This is turning out to be really boring." Roz sighed looking around and kicking a piece of plywood over. It must have fallen from one of the boarded windows. Not that it made a difference for the room, the uncovered window was layered in so much dirt it might as well have been the ply wood.

"Do you think that they knew we were watching them and left?" He opened the pantry closest to the door. He wiped his hand on his jeans, just touching the handle to the pantry had it covered in dust. Roz walked over to a door on the opposite end of the room. 

"The basement is over here." She pointed into the small room past the doorway. "Let's check here first." He began to approach her but was stopped when he heard movement from behind the island several feet to the right of them. He mouthed the word "cover" to her and turned slowly on his heels towards the island. He made his way around it making the least amount of noise as possible. He finally reached the other side to see nothing. Disappointed once again.

"Raccoon." Roz laughed softly pointing to a gray lump scurrying out of the room. Wow what a movie cliché, a false scare. Seriously this Victorian sucked.

"This IS boring." He said leaning on the island. He sat and watched annoyed as the raccoon scratched the dining room door until it opened enough for it to squeeze itself out. It reminded him of his old cat Figgy, he used to do that. Avery wiped the dirt from his hip, just leaning on the island left his side covered in dirt. He heard Roz grunt followed by her body flying across the room. "Roz!" He turned to go to her when he noticed a large figure stood at the back entrance. Stench immediately filled the room. He had to hold the the need to gag back long enough to make sure his sister was okay. He couldn't go to her without coming in direct contact with the thing, but he could keep a watch in her. He could try to keep the thing away from her. Thankfully she was already picking herself up. The ghoul was already moving towards her, its limbs were all gangly and gaunt. He was surprised that this creature could even hold itself up without breaking in half. Ghouls may usually be slow and dumb witted but in a fight they were still very dangerous. He knew he needed to distract it long enough for Roz to lift herself up and find the gun she dropped when she went flying across the room. He found a broken bottle behind the island. It would do the trick. He took it and whipped it at the ghoul. It hit the ghoul's head. He had expected the bottle to shatter like in the movies but instead it just made a clunking sound. The hit made the ghoul’s neck twitch. It was a funny sight. He had to stifle a laugh considering the creature turned its attention to him. He slowly moved behind the island, if it charged at him it would either have to run around or jump over it, giving Avery an extra second to attack. He put his gun back in its holster and reached for his throwing knives. He couldn't shoot at it with Roz standing directly behind it. He could injure her and blow the whole hunt for them. Knives were his best bet. The ghoul lunged at him. He reached back and swung it forward releasing the silver knife at the creature. Silver worked amazingly against the supernatural. Something in its chemical compound affected a large amount supernatural creatures. It was a metal and metal was one of the five cleansers that hunters used to hunt. Fire, water, wood, earth, and metal. Supernatural creatures tended to be born from beliefs, beliefs were also what caused their deaths. The knife slashed through the thing's thigh causing it to lose its footing as it jumped over the island. It fell slamming its face hard on the granite counter. A large cracking sound filled the room but no damage was left on the granite. The crunching sound was enough to make Avery cringe in pain. He shook the cringing away and readied his second knife. The ghoul stood, growling at him as best as it could with it's now shattered jaw. The thigh that he has cut into with his knife was beginning to turn black-effect of the silver.

"Cut off it's head."The young hunter whispered to himself. Severing a ghouls spinal cord was the only confirmed way to kill it, that and fire or course. Fire works on anything to be honest. It was the most effective of the five elements. Just throwing knives were not going to cut it, he had to fight it up close. He drew another knife and moved around to the same side of the island as the ghoul. It turned to him with its now maimed leg not cooperating with the rest of its body. It struggled to take a step towards Avery. Avery lunged at its legs. Attacking it's leg would be the easiest way bring this thing down. His knife sliced its other leg as Avery slid by it causing it to fall to its knees. He quickly turned and jammed the knife into its shoulder. He felt the curved blade of the knife slice through all the tendons and some bones in the things shoulder. The ghoul howled in agony. He twisted the knife and forced the ghoul down, flat into the ground. He pinned it down with his legs. Roz ran towards the two but was derailed when another ghoul tackled her from the kitchen's back entrance. Avery looked over to see his sister holding back a ghoul back with a broken piece of two-by-four jammed into its mouth. Roz was a strong woman but she was still struggling with holding the ghoul at bay.

"The others must have heard the howling when you stabbed it!" She yelled finally managing to kick the ghoul off of her. The ghoul landed a few feet away from her. They both scrambled to their feet. "The rest will be up here in seconds!" Avery drew his knife out of his ghoul's shoulder and thrusted it into it's neck right below its skull, he felt the spinal cord snap. The ghoul thrashed around for a few seconds then stopped. Roz swung the two-by-four at full force breaking the other ghoul's arm as it reached for her with its deranged claws. Avery threw his knife at the thing aiming for it's head. The ghoul moved and the knife hit the wall a few inches from its face. It turned growling at him giving Roz the chance to aim her gun at it. The ghoul heard the safety click on her pistol."Bye bye." She said shooting it between the eyes. The ghoul fell motionless to the ground. 

"The silencer kind of killed the dramatic moment." Avery said walking over and pulling his knife out of the wall. A chunk of the wall fell of where he hit it exposing wiring and decaying insulation.

"At least it won't disturb the neighbors." She shrugged and nodded at the back entrance pointing her gun at it. Avery followed her lead and drew his own pistol. There was no need to hold his gun back now that they were both on the same side of the room.The door lead to a laundry room with the basement door at the other end. The basement was pitch black. They heard clicking, the type of sound a dog makes when walking on hardwood flooring. There was no way that either of them was going down there.

"Flare." Avery whispered pulling out a stick and twisting the top of it off. The flare was blindingly bright, he waited for his eyes to stop hurting from the dilation. Once the pain went away he tossed it down the stairs. The brightness felt imprinted in his eyes. The flare rolled down each step illuminating the room below them more and more as it fell. They could hear scuffling from beneath followed by several growls. One figure approached it, the light exposing it's horrid decayed face to the two hunters. It touched the flare and recoiled back hissing when it's fingers were burned. Roz whistled to get it's attention. It looked up at the two hunters immediately running on all fours towards when it recognized a possible meal. Roz shot it twice. The first bullet shattering it's wrist. The second hit its head spewing black goo all over the floor below it. They heard a roar of anger from below. Avery pushed Roz behind him and knelt beneath her, both of them aiming directly down the stairs. Six more ghouls appeared at the bottom of the steps, all of their dead beady eyes on them. They all charged at the same time, their limbs all entangling with each other only slowing them down. The siblings began to fire at the group. Two of the ghouls fell dead immediately. The others continued to climb leaving them behind. Avery shot another in the shoulder causing it to fall, the others climbed over it smashing it's face into the concrete steps. It seemed the ghouls were doing half the work for them. The last three continued to gain on them only a few feet away. Roz shot her last round but neither of them was sure where the bullet landed. She reached into her jacket pulling out another clip of ammunition.

"Reloading." She yelled over all of the growling. Her brother shot one more bullet at the ghouls knocking one of them back but not killing it. He aimed at the other two and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He pulled it again. Nothing.

"It's jammed!" He yelling trying one last time. Still nothing. "Roz, it's jammed." He said moving back to avoid the claw of one of the ghouls. They had reached the top of the stairs. He fell back hitting Roz’s legs making her lose her balance. She dropped her clip some of the bullets fell out. "Move back." Her brother yelled crab crawling away from the oncoming monsters. He kicked one of the ghouls back getting his leg scratched in the process. He pulled one of his knives out and slashed at them, slitting one of their throats. Not that slicing their throat did anything to slow them down. One of them, one that Avery had assumed to be female clawed across my chest taking part of his shirt with it, luckily it only left surface scratches on him. He wasn't too worried a person can't turn into a ghoul, not till after they are dead. He swung his knife again. The ghoul's must have recognized the silver because they hissed leaning away from it. He was waiting for his sister to reload and start firing again.

"Get down!" Roz shouted swinging her silver chain. Apparently reloading her gun was out of the question with the bullets on the ground. The chain cut the female ghouls face with ease. She swung again with more momentum letting the chain fully extend. It wrapped around the ghoul's neck. She pulled it towards her forcing the ghoul to fall. Avery rolled to the side away from the female and focused on the other two. He lifted his pant leg and pulled his second pistol aiming it one of the creatures' face. He shot it and covered his face from the explosion of black goo. He saw the head of the female ghoul slowly rolled towards him. He made a sickened noise and kicked it away, it rolled down the stairs bouncing a couple of times. Roz was already swinging her chain focused on the last ghoul. She wrangled it to the ground. Avery elbowed its head into the ground using all of his weight to smash it down. He drew his knife again and punctured the back of its skull. It shrieked, well more like gurgled into a pool of it's own black goo for a few seconds then died. The two hunters sat there in silence for about thirty seconds, trying to breathe but mostly waiting to see if anymore ghouls were coming at them. Nothing attacked. The room was covered in black ichor. They were covered in black ichor. Avery pulled out a handkerchief from inside his jacket and wiped his face. He made sure to only dirty half of it and handed it to his sister when he was done. She used the other half leaving the white linen piece of fabric completely stained.

"We look really hot right now, not gonna lie." Avery said laughing and sitting up against the wall. He folded the handkerchief and placed it back in his pocket. His sister scooted down next to him and laughed leaning on his shoulder. Her blonde hair was matted with streaks of black in it. She pulled out her phone.

"Picture!" She said in a sing-songy voice. The flash of her camera hurt his eyes."Let's finish up and get out of here." She pushed herself up and holding a hand out for her younger brother. "We can call Dad, and he can call the cleaners to take care of the bodies." She motioned to the lifeless gaunt ghouls on the ground. Avery looked through the room collecting all of his throwing knives and set them back in their holsters. They continued to search the rest of the house to be sure we had got them all, They had. Once sure they were done, they cleaned themselves enough to avoid unwanted attention and quickly made their way back to her SUV. Once they locked themselves in their motel room they contacted their father who called for cleaners to take care of the area. He also pulled strings to get the home knocked down to avoid another nest of ghouls from happening. They ordered takeout after they had each showered and called it a night. The next day they would head back home to Chicago. For now they needed to rest.


	2. Moods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roz and Avery prepare for an upcoming celebration in their honor.

Chapter 2: Moods 

The two young hunters arrived home by midmorning the next day. Their first solo hunt had gone well and nobody had died. Their mother had been worried and tried to stop it every step of the way. So it was no surprise that she was waiting for them at the door when they arrived. The elevator door had barely opened completely before she bombarded them with questions and looked each of them over to make sure they had all of their limbs. She pulled them into a hug, Avery had to hold the elevator door open, since she hadn't let them step out yet. 

"Hey Mom," He said smiling. He couldn't blame her for worrying, it is what mothers do after all. Their maid Stacey came into the room and took their bags. 

"Thanks Stace." Roz said pulling her jacket off, which Stacey also took. She disappeared with their bags, headed to the laundry room surely. "Where is Dad?" Roz asked flopping down on the couch. He mother smacked the back of her head when she put her feet on the coffee table.

"He is in his office arranging things for your party." He mom answered excitedly. "He is so proud of you two." Roz and Avery made mock surprised faces at each other. Of course their dad was throwing a party.

"A party really isn't necessary." Avery said letting himself fall into the big fluffy cushions. He felt his body relax completely into it. The motel they had stayed at had horrible beds.

"You're the first of your generation to have your own hunt." His mom reminded. "And you both survived, it is a big deal." She was all smiles. She was proud of her children, they had done it. In the hunting world being off on your own hunt was like becoming an adult. Like a supernatural bar mitzvah.

"Yeah," Roz sat forward. "But he's doing this to show off to the other families." 

"He just wants to rub it in their faces." Avery added staring at the ceiling. He had never really noticed how tall their apartment really was. They lived in a penthouse in down town Chicago. Their family was loaded from generations and generations of hunting. He wasn't entirely not sure how they acquired all of the money since they didn't charge people to help with their supernatural problems, but he did know that when he turned twenty-one he inherited a portion of it. Ninety-Five million to be exact. All of the major hunting families in the world were wealthy. Sometimes he felt like he lived in one of those Real Housewives shows because some of the hunters couldn't help but flaunt it in front of the rest how much better they were than them. 

"There they are!" They heard their father's voice from behind them. "My amazing hunter children!" Roz and Avery smiled and stood as he walked towards them. "How was it?" He asked pulling them into a tight hug. 

"You know," Avery sighed dramatically. "The ghouls growled at us, so we cut their heads off." His father laughed loudly squeezing his shoulder. 

"I want to know everything!" He said leading them towards the sectional couches. 

"It was kind of fun." Roz admitted. "In a crazy psycho way, I guess." She sat next to him. Their mom sat between Avery and her husband and listening to Roz telling a hit by hit of the whole encounter. Roz's green eyes lit up with excitement as she spoke. She had the light eyes like both their parents, the blonde hair to finish their matching looks. Avery was the one who stuck out with his black hair, brown eyes and dark bronze skin. His looks were never something he worried about, except when it came to meeting up with the other families. He was the only child of non "royal" blood as they like to call it. He was adopted from some common place, they acted as if it was disdainful just to think about it. His parents made sure he knew he was a Bishops and nothing could change that, he was meant to be one. He had spaced out and missed most of Roz's story. He just heard his parents laughing and his father saying some sort of praise. He was brought back to when his mother squeezed his knee smiling at him. He smiled back. Roz must have finished her story because his father was starting to speak.

"One week from today." Their father said standing up. "One week, and we can celebrate." He smiled turning towards them. He looked at them expecting excited faces. The two siblings just looked at each other hesitantly. Their father ignored them and continued. "All of the big families will be here to celebrate you." Avery side-eyed his sister already dreading the other's arrivals. "I will go finish the arrangements, and you two need to go out and get outfits. He handed his son one of the family black cards and left. When it came to gathering for the "Royals" money was never a concern. Well it was-but only because they wanted to spend a lot to remind them all how rich they were.

"Let's go tomorrow." Avery said falling back into the cushions. "I've had enough of hunting things down for a few days, much less clothing." His sister lay down on the other end of the sectional huffing out an agreement. They spent the majority of their day channel surfing, only breaking away from the couch to train for a few hours. Training was always a priority.

 

Avery spent the entirety of the next day shopping with his sister. She wasn't sure which dress she would wear to the party. She was obsessed with getting the right one, she had narrowed it down to five. As much as the "royal" families like to talk about honor, code, and decorum, they were extremely petty when it came to showing off. They all wanted to be the best and in higher standing than the rest. As much as the Bishops siblings hated it they couldn't say they never took part in it, but at least they could admit how petty they could be. As of the day before their family was in higher ranking because of the two of them. That was really what this whole celebration thing was about for their parents, to make sure the rest knew that the Bishops children were better than theirs. It was crucial for Roz and Avery to be the best dressed, the best behaved, just the best all around. Their clothing had to be the most expensive and unique of all. Roz stood in front of the mirror twirling back and forth to see how her dress would move. The attendant placed a chair down so she could sit and make sure nothing showed when she did. It was always important to perform a sit test when getting a new dress. She had learned that mistake the hard way. 

"This is it!" She exclaimed turning to her brother. "What do you think?" She always asked for his opinion, she didn't have any sisters so she worked with what she had. Avery stood on the opposite end of the room looking at jewelry. He had figured all of the guys attending would wear ties or bow ties and he needed to change things up. He had already set aside a necklace with several layers of large stones. The woman helping them called it a statement piece, and he definitely needed to make a statement. He was still looking at possible cuff links and maybe a bracelet to go with the necklace. 

"Whichever it is I'm sure it’s fine Roz," He mumbled holding his hair back. Thinking that a matching ponytail clip would be good too. 

"Just look at it, jerk!" She stomped. He turned to see. It was a nude tulle dress with "strategically" placed beads and sequin in different shades of red to cover her areas. It had a very high slit on the right side. It was a nice dress, just not the dress someone wants to see their own sister in.

"Does it really need the high slit?" He asked turning back to the mirror. He wasn't very prudish when it came to his sister’s fashion choices but there was such a thing as overkill. "I mean you are already basically naked with how sheer that tulle is."  
"Yes or no." She asked sternly. 

"It's great." He responded. "It's slutty, it's shiny." He pulled his hair back again. "Rich people talk for expensive." He laughed. "And you know the other parents won't let their daughters wear something like that." 

"Thank god Mom and Dad are so recklessly progressive." She laughed twirling one last time. "I'm glad you like it, cuz I am tired of changing." She turned and headed to back into the changing room. 

"I love it, which means that they will hate it." Avery handed the jewelry he had chosen along with his father's black card to the store clerk helping them. “Thank you." He smiled beginning to gather my things.

"Don't forget to tip yourself for helping us!" Roz said peeking out from the changing room, the woman nodded and left the room. About a minute later Roz stepped out wearing her street clothes again jeans and a very tight t-shirt. She put her family emblem back on. 

"I lost mine." He whispered pointing to it. "I think that ghoul that ripped my shirt ripped my necklace too." He sighed sitting on the nearest bench. "Mom cannot find out or she will kill me."

"I got another you can have." His sister answered fixing her hair in the mirror. "I had several made a few years ago to avoid being killed myself." She smiled still looking herself over. Roslyn was definitely resourceful.

 

They spent the next few days training in their family's facility, and researching other possible hunts around the U.S. Their parents had plenty of connections to find the one, but they wanted to find one for themselves. It was a bit harder than they anticipated since they were never training on research and sourcing the hunts themselves.

Avery felt weird the entire week leading up to the party. He was constantly uncomfortable. One minute He was self-conscious, doubting his every move, the next he felt like he was on top of the world. He had no idea what was going on and brushed it off as nerves. He had the right to be nervous, after all he was going to be facing about twenty people who were angry at him for doing better than them despite his "social handicaps." Still, he couldn't help but worry, usually nerves made him jumpy and sweaty not moody. Roz on the other hand was completely fine about the whole thing. Not because she wanted it to happen but because no matter what happened she and her brother were in this together.

 

Finally the day he had been dreading arrived. Both sibling just wanted to get it over with. Their mother hired a hair and makeup artist to prepare them for the night. They were both forced to stay upstairs when the guests began to arrive. Eventually their dad would announce them, like some southern belle debutantes. They were sitting on the edge of the rail upstairs. It reminded me of when they were children and eavesdropping on the adults. The first to arrive was the Cruz family, they were based in Mexico City. Vincent and Rosalia Cruz entered followed by their three daughters, their oldest Beatrice and the twins Cassandra and Amalia. The twins wore matching gowns Cassandra in gold, Amalia in silver. 

"Aren't we a little old for the whole matchy-matchy thing?" Roz whispered, Avery couldn't help but laugh. The next family to arrive was the Battaligna, just hearing their names made their eyes roll back so hard that they saw glimpses of their repressed memories. Amber and Paulo Battaligna greeted their parents followed by their sons Maximilian and Kit, last was their daughter Florence. The main problem with the Battalignas was their antiquated hunting code. They believed that women had no business in the field, they were to stay back and provide intel...if they were smart enough. They were also the ones constantly reminding Avery that he was not of "royal" blood. Must really chap their ass to be here celebrating both he and Roz. Avery remembers them calling him and his sister G.I. Jose and Battle Barbie. They were really the reason why Avery dreaded this gathering. The Makis family arrived next from Japan. Neither of the siblings knew much about them. They had really only met their kids Micheleen "Mike" and Rei, they seemed okay. Mostly because they were usually quiet at these things. They had brought their grandmother Li, she was the longest surviving hunters, most hunters are lucky to make it past fifty let alone into their eighties. The siblings were getting bored just waiting. Not that they wanted to be downstairs with all of the visitors but still. The two last families arrived at the same time, half an hour late. The Santiagos from Brazil and the Felkents from Montreal. Avery knew almost nothing about either family, the last time he saw them was several years ago. The Felkent's daughter was named Anna she was about as interesting as watching paint dry. The Santiago's had two boys Stefan and Ruben he couldn't really say anything better for them either. He remembered them from when they were all in the training program but they never really spoke to him. Most hunting families send their kids to a private school in New York where they learn the skills needed for hunting along with a regular school curricular. All of the "kids" present at the party, aside from Florence, attended there. In fact the school constantly ranked them throughout the year, they were the top twelve, or as most hunters called them "The Deadly Dozen." Hunting's next generation of leaders. It wasn't because they were necessarily the best in the world or anything, it’s just that with money comes power. Their parents had both, so naturally they did too. Their dad started speaking to the whole room, some speech about both of them. 

"I guess it’s almost time for us." Roz said struggling to stand up from how tight fitting her dress was. Her brother lifted her up and helped her untangle a few beads near the hem of her dress. He gave himself a quick check in the mirror to be sure his outfit was still good. 

"Alright." He sighed smoothing the fly away hairs. 

"Let’s go piss them off." She said. Their dad was still going on about the new era of hunting beginning with the two of them. "Jesus this is so annoying." She whispered taking his hand and heading towards the stairs. 

"C'mon Battle Barbie, let’s go party." Avery sang as they waited for their father to introduce them.


	3. Guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avery and Roz face their dreaded guests. They even add some fuel to the fire themselves.

Chapter 3: Guests

Avery wasn't as nervous as he thought he would be approaching the top of the stairs. If anything he was agitated. He was angry that he had to be there, the closer he got to the main floor the more angry he became. They were just steps away from the light still hidden in the shadows and they could hear their father still rambling on about them. Usually they liked hearing about how proud he was about them, what kid wouldn't like that, but still Avery was just agitated beyond belief.

"Why are you breathing so hard?" Roz asked tugging on his hand. Her voice broke him out of his angry reverie. Then it was all gone, as if it had never been there, as if it wasn't his anger to begin with. It was a relief if anything, he knew he had to check into these weird mood swings he kept going through. Finally their father motioned to them holding his arm out to the top of the stairs as some grand gesture. They both took a deep breath and stepped into the light. They moved in unison, but only because their mom made them practice several times before the party started. Avery spotted her in the back of the group motioning for them to smile. It felt unnatural to smile at a group of people where half of them hated you. He spotted Max and Kit whispering to each other and laughing. He made a point to smile directly at them, reminding them that at this point in time he was better than them. This hunt made Roz and him the top two in the deadly dozen, formerly number two and four. Max the former number one and Rei Maki being number three. Kit was somewhere around number eight. Avery intended to stay at the top with Roz and he made sure smile was a wordless way of telling them that they were going to have to fight him for it, or at least fight supernatural creatures to take the place away from him. 

They reached the bottom of the stairs and gave their dad a hug before he turned to the guest and announced. "Roslyn and Avery Bishops, the next generation of hunters has arrived!" The crowd, well the parents mostly began to cheer and clap happily. Avery raised the hand holding Roz's and waved to them. 

Roz waited until the crowd quieted down before she spoke. "Thank you so much, we are so glad you are here to celebrate with us." She turned to her brother smiling. She was doing exactly as their mother told them.

"We will do our best to uphold the legacy your generation has left for us," Avery began, he turned to Max and Kit who were still whispering to themselves. "Roslyn and I will gladly lead you all into the next era for hunters." He made sure to stress the word you. Max and Kit's whispering stopped and they glared daggers at him. 

"I can't wait until the rest of you follow in our steps." Roslyn added holding her sight directly at them as well. The room fell into a silence, everyone knowing the Battaligna's old customs. The fact that Roz was at the number one spot now was an insult in itself to them. Avery lead Roz away from the stairs and towards the guests. They began thanking them individually and making small talk. They made sure that they spoke to all the parents first, mostly out of respect but also because they knew that when dinner would be served they would be separated and forced to sit with the rest of their contemporaries. Only half an hour had passed and the group had already divided. Their father had led the rest of the "men" into his study to talk about God knows what. Their mother pulled the women into her closet to show them her newest garments and jewelry. Roz and Avery had been left in the living room with the rest of the "kids". Only a few could actually be considered kids, Kit, and the Cruz twins since they were all nineteen. The rest of them were in their early twenties...very early twenties. Roz and Rei were the oldest at twenty four and twenty five respectively, the rest fell in between. Avery was at twenty-two, but to the adults they were all still kids. 

"I love your necklace Avery." A quiet voice whispered from behind him. It was Florence. He had almost forgotten that she was there, he wasn't used to here being around since she was not a hunter. 

"Thanks Flo," He motioned for her to sit next to him. Even though she was a Battaligna he had nothing against her. "What have you been up to? I haven't heard from you in years." She shrugged and walked around the sectional to join him. 

"Not much really," she fidgeted with her skirt until it sat just right. She was a beautiful girl olive skin, caramel hair, and her family's signature gray eyes. As much as he hated to say this the Battalignas were a good looking group of people. They offset theirs looks with their horrible personalities. Except Florence. She had always been soft spoken from what he remembered but he figured that was because of the way her family treated her compared to her brothers. "I'm almost done with school." She added. 

"Yeah?" Unlike the rest of the kids here she had gone to normal schools, she was in college now, she was twenty-one which meant she was probably in her senior year. "Interior design right?" She always had a way with decorating. Her smile faded and she shook her head. 

"No," her finger began to play with the texture of her skirt. It was a hard color to distinguish, a coppery gold color with brown lowlights. It complimented her skin tone perfectly. "My father didn't approve of that." She looked away from him for a second. Avery hated seeing her so disheartened. He didn't know her too well but he knew that she deserved better than what he family had given her. "He made me switch to computer engineering." Her eyes looked up to his, he felt his heart skip a beat. "He said it would be more useful." Avery couldn't force himself to look away from her face, he had always thought she was a beautiful girl but how had it not make a difference to him before? 

"I'm so sorry," He put his hand over hers, it was soft and small. How had he not noticed her before. Anxiety began to build inside him. He wasn't very good at talking to girls when he actually liked them. "You're a really good designer." He really had no idea what to say, he wanted to run and hide because he was sure his face was beginning to turn red. She put her other hand over his and squeezed it, a silent thank you. "Your family doesn't treat you the way you should be treated." Surprise scanned across her face. Avery was not sure if what he had said came across as good or bad to her. He had not meant to say it. She was still holding his hand so he figured it couldn't have been that bad. Regardless he still felt the need to apologize. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"What are you ladies talking about over here?" Kit said approaching them, he had made sure to wait until the adults were out of the room before he said anything to either Avery or Roslyn. The whole room noticed and their eyes moved in the two boy's direction. Without their parents in the room there was no need to be cordial. They pretended until they were sick when their parents could see them. Flo pulled her hands from Avery's before her brothers noticed. It irked Avery, mostly because even if she did like him her parents would never allow it, not with him. "Are we trading recipes?" Kit said cocking his head to the side as if talking to a toddler.

"Kit, alway so charmingly primeval." Avery smiled making sure he sat up straight, he was not going to give the younger male anything to see as a weakness. 

"Pretty necklace." Kit almost laughed. "Did you forget to take it off when you and your sissy were playing dress up this morning?"

"Thought I'd try something new," Avery leaned forward in challenge. he felt territorial, as if he had to defend not just himself but his home. "Not everybody's mother picked out our outfits for us." Roz tried to stifle a laugh only fueling the fire. “White shirt, black tux, how refreshing.” 

"Since when do hunters wear such extravagant jewelry?" Kit asked looking around the room. "Nobody of royal blood would be so tacky." The room fell silent at his mention of Avery's adoption, as if it was something Avery wasn't aware of. Still Avery felt his blood begin to boil at the thought that people thought he was winning. 

"Hunters adopting?" He said fake flabbergasted. "Next thing you'll know these common bloods and women will be ranked higher over the others." He looked at his older sister who was standing a few feet away. "Oh wait, I guess it already happened." All the girls aside from Flo smiled and whispered among themselves. Avery was not sure what was coming over him, usually any snarky remarks Kit made would roll right past him but now it felt like the younger hunter's anger and jealousy was feeding his anger. Kit opened his mouth to spit his next punchline but he was cut off by the sound of a crystal bell. Mrs. Bishops stood at the archway entrance into the dining hall.

"Children please freshen up, dinner will be served in five minutes." She smiled leaving the room. Kit glared at Avery again. Avery just smiled knowing how much it would piss him off, kill them with kindness, literally. 

"Thank you for joining us to celebrate our achievements." He over pronounced the word our. His smile didn't fade. "In a second our staff will show you and the others where to freshen up." He nodded and made his way up the stairs, Roz followed him looking at her phone the whole time way into their shared bathroom. "Does he always have to be such an ass?" Avery asked turning on the faucet. He could feel his skin heating up. Roz just leaned on the edge of her half of the sink still looking at her phone she just grunted in agreement. He used a cold towel to cool myself off. "I mean why does every time we meet it has to turn into a fight?" He knew he was starting to raise his voice but he and his sister were the only two upstairs so it didn't matter. She still focused on her phone. "Also I think I might like Flo." He added closing his eyes and leaning against the nearest wall. Now that he said it out loud he wasn't sure if he did like her or not. It was weird when he was sitting next to her he was so sure there was something but now...eh. With all these recent mood swings he was having, it might just be one of those. Not that them being together would ever work anyways. 

"Well I got something that will cheer you up!" She handed him her phone. It was an article on. Some newspaper app. It read Another disappearance in Arapaho National Park. 

"Roz! What the hell?" He asked clearly she had forgotten the meaning of cheering up. "Why would a missing person report cheer me up?" He handed her phone back.

"Ok so maybe that was a bit vague," She said putting her phone away. He waited for her to elaborate. "But this is the sixth person in the last year. Nothing but their belongings found. All the people went there hiking or camping and disappeared. Some even in clear daylight." She watched him for a response. "It could be a supernatural thing, a hunt for us. Police have found nothing, I have been researching this the last few day but all they know is a general area of where they were." Her brother nodded waiting for more. "I hacked into their files and found picture of what seemed like bloody scratches on trees. Alway three always horizontal always on the side of the tree facing north."

"Something is marking its territory." Avery said asking for her phone back to look at the article. "But I don't know what creature marks its territory like that." The article had a video of a local news channel, he turned the volume up to watch it.

"Local police think it's a serial killer leaving his insignia like zorro or something." Roz said walking over next to him to watch the video.

"But the marking makes no sense it's almost hum....." He began. There was a knock on the door, He pressed the button to lock Roz's phone to stop the video.

"Avery?" It was Flo. "Everyone is waiting for you guys downstairs." He looked at Roz.

"It's gonna have to wait until after everyone leaves." He whispered heading to the door. 

"That's fine I got one of dad's connection trying to find more info on it for me anyways." They opened the door and headed down to the dining hall with Flo.


	4. Chapter 4 Teams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Royal families gather for dinner. Things go awry and lead to a series of unfriendly competitions.

Chapter 4: Teams

Everybody was already seated when the three of them arrived. Their mother looked at them sternly and motioned for them to sit along with the rest of the kids. There was three seats open at the table set for thirteen. One seat was between the Cruz sisters and the Makis, the other two were between Max and Kit, of course they would do this. Flo hurriedly sat next Kit and gave Avery a shy smile. This was another one of their tests to see if Avery would avoid them or face them head on. He sat next to Flo smiling at the whole table. He wasn't going down without a fight.

"Kid's table." He said pulling his chair up. Roz sat in the remaining chair directly across from him. 

"How does it feel to be sitting at this table with all of us children, Mr. and Mrs. Best hunters?" Max asked already trying to agitate them.

"It's Miss you idiot." Roz snapped from across the table. "Besides someone has to make sure the troubled children are being watched over." Max sourly smiled at her. The Battalignas may have separated them but it wouldn't hinder them.

"Does everything have to be a fight with you two?" Avery asked as calmly as he could, just being around them was causing his blood to rise. 

"Not a fight," Kit began.

"But a competition." Max finished his thought. 

"A competition you're losing." Flo said playing with her napkin. Avery laughed looking at her. Just looking at her again made him calmer. He didn't know what she was doing to him but it was working. 

"Shut your mouth Florence!" Kit said glaring at her.

"Don't talk to her that way!" Avery snapped back. "She can do whatever she wants." He felt her hand find his under the table and she looked down smiling. 

"You're family might be a bunch of hippie progressives but our family..." Max was cut off when Rei Maki spoke for the first time the entire night. 

"Treating women as equals in not progressive," His eyes moved across the table to the Battalignas. "It's merely common sense." He looked at his sister seated next to him. "Sometimes they posses the skills that we lack. Female warriors are nothing new to society, you'd know that if you paid attention during our schooling in New York." He continued to eat his food quietly as if nothing around him was happening. Roz and Avery smiled at each other contently, someone was on our side. The rest of the appetizers were eaten in silence. Flo still hadn't let go of Avery's hand. Once catering service had taken away the appetizer Mr. Bishops decided that it was time for toasts to be given, as if the speech he made at the beginning of the night was not enough. Avery knew that all this toasting was just going to lead into back handed compliments and more arsenal for Kit and Max to use against him and his sister. As per usual his dad went first. He started with childhood stories, which led into a reprise of how proud he was of both of them, which lead into his hopes for the future. He was into the third minute of his speech when a cell phone went off. He stopped talking immediately, he hated cell phones at the dinner table. It took a second for Avery to recognize the ringtone, he turned to Roz. 

"Roz! turn it off!" He whispered urgently. She reached into her clutch and searched for her phone as it continued to go off. "We forgot to turn the volume off!" He apologetically said. Her ringer kept going.

"It must be about Colorado." She finally managed to turn it off and put it away. 

"What about Colorado?" Their father was standing right behind Avery. He didn't dare to turn to look at him. Flo finally let go of his hand. Roz laughed timidly and shrugged. The entire table was silent. Mr. Bishops was a friendly man but he was scary when he was angry. Not one person made a move afraid of the man towering over them.

"Nothing," She motioned to his chair back at the adult table. "Go ahead and finish your speech it was amazing." Even the whole adult table was scared of their father, nobody dared say anything. Avery felt his father's hand on his shoulder. His heart dropped into his stomach.

"Avery what about Colorado?" He asked sternly.

"Umm..." Avery looked at Roz for help but she couldn't say anything without their father hearing or seeing. "I don't really know anything." He put on his best fake smile looking up at him. His father tightened his hold on him. "Really Dad I don't know." He said moving his shoulder away. His father reached his hand out to Roz. 

"Give me your phone." His tone wasn't demanding, it didn't have to be everyone in the room knew he meant business. You didn't get to be a big bad Hunter without the intimidation factor. Something Roz and Avery still had to nail down. Roz sighed and handed him her phone. "Now what is so important about Colorado that needs to interrupt your celebration." He turned to the rest of the room saying everything aloud. "Another disappearance in Arapaho national park." He sounded as confused as Avery had been when he read it. He looked to Roz for an explanation but she just shrugged, they didn't want any of the others taking their hunt. He turned his attention back to the phone and went through her messages. "Why is Aaron, my research assistant texting you information about this park?" another moment of silence swept the room. His eyes didn't falter from his daughter.  
"We were hoping to go camping in a few weeks." Avery lied trying to keep his attention off of Roz hoping she could come up with a lie as well. His father looked at him sternly clearly not believing.  
"Why would you go camping in an area where people have disappeared?" His attention was back on Roz. She just shrugged at her brother, they were going to have to tell him eventually.

"It's a lead for a possible hunt." Roz answered quietly. He looked at her than at her phone. Most of the tension in his body faded instantly. The tension in the room did too.

"Oh," he gave her back the phone almost smiling. "Already looking for a new hunt." He seemed impressed. "Good." He moved back to his seat. 

"Colorado is our turf." Kit said loud enough for the whole room to hear. "If anybody is hunting there it's Max and I."  
"There is no turfs!" Avery rolled his eyes. "We aren't a bunch of gangs." 

"I found the lead, so Avery and I will do the follow through." Roz yelled over the murmuring at both tables. 

"We would like to take the hunt too." Micheleen said softly as her brother nodded along. Roz just glared at them.

"No, and no." She pointed to Kit. "Find your own damn lead." Everybody was talking over each other at once. It seemed they all wanted the lead. Roz had the death grip on her phone, she was dead set on nobody else getting this information. All the yelling was beginning to hurt Avery's head, the longer it went on the less he was able to focus. Everything was becoming one big wail in his ears. Anxiety was creeping up on him. He put his head in his hands and took deep breaths. Everyone was busy with yelling that nobody noticed. Nobody but Flo, she placed her hand on the back of his neck. Somehow it helped. It was a soft, warm touch that tethered him back into reality and out of his own head.

"Are you okay?" Her voice was soft but he could hear it through all the shouting. Like his ear were focused solely on her. So much for a night of celebration. The shouting instantly stopped. He looked up to see everyone's attention behind him. Grandmother Li was standing in the center of the room. She was holding her hand up demanding the room's attention. As if she had to demand anything, the woman had a regal presence about her that was hard to miss. 

"We will hold a competition." Her voice was soft like Micheleen's but they all heard it perfectly. "The children will break into teams and go against each other to decide who will go on this hunt." Everyone looked at each other. Roz pointed to her brother then herself. He nodded diligently in agreement and turned back to Grandmother Li. "Three tests that will eliminate teams until one team is left." Some of the others looked to Roz, out of all of the people in this room Roz was the only one to have ever talk back to grandmother Li. Roz may be a quarter of her age but Grandmother Li respected her more than others. Something about how she reminded her of herself at that age. 

"As long as we do it all tonight." Roz said getting up she began undoing the back zipper on her dress. "Everybody change clothing and we can meet at the training center down town." She looked at Avery waiting for him to respond. He immediately stood up and began to undo his necklace. His neck and collarbone felt much lighter. He handed the heavy necklace to Kit as he passed by him. Kit caught it but clearly underestimated the weight of the jewels, he had to brace his arms so he wouldn't drop it.

"It feels good giving to charity." He said undoing his hair. He didn't wait for a response and followed his sister. Both siblings headed to their rooms and headed straight to their closets. Avery went with all black workout clothes. He could hear his mom leading the rest of the kids into one of the guest rooms where they kept extra clothes. He went into his sister's room as she finished putting her shoes. They both pulled their hair back into low pony tails and headed out the door. They didn't wait for the others and drove directly to the training center, it was about fifteen minutes away from the pent house. The center was hidden underneath a business building, their father rented space to small businesses in the city there. The three floors below ground were where they trained, only those with a security card and code could enter the lower floors. 

 

Roz and Avery were the first to arrive, they began stretching convinced that physical activity would be happening. Everyone arrived shortly after they did. The others began to stretch as well, the adults were unsure of what Grandmother Li expected them to do most of them were still wearing their suits and evening gowns. Flo was sitting next to her parents watching as the others stretched. They had all broken into pairs, six in total. Roz and Avery were together, so were Kit and Max, Rei and Micheleen were another team. The Cruz twins Amalia and Cassandra decided to compete together, their sister Bea had to partner up with Anna Felkent, and naturally Ruben and Stefan Santiago competed as a team. The six teams stood silently waiting for Grandmother Li to announce what they were going to do. Flo ran to her brothers and said something that her father had told her to say, they both nodded at their parents. Avery watched trying to figure out what they were saying. Flo timidly walked towards Roz and Avery. 

"Hey Flo." He smiled, she looked as if she was blushing. She fidgeted with the hem of her blouse.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck." Her father snapped his fingers asking her to return. "This is your hunt." She said walking away with a small wave. He couldn't help the smile that took over his face, he looked down trying to hide it. 

"The fair maiden awaits her knight." Roz said in a sing-song voice. 

"Shut up." He laughed turning around to regain his composure. He could see Max and Kit staring daggers at him from a few yards away. Avery just smiled at them in defiance. It was clear that they didn’t like their sister speaking to him. Avery felt bad for using Flo to anger her brothers but he’d make sure to make it up to her. Roz tapped his shoulder pointing to Grandmother Li. She stood in front of all the competitors ready to tell them what they were going to be doing. Avery took a deep breath, he was going to win this thing.

The first test they were given was actually boring to them. Grandmother Li had Flo hand them all a sheet of paper and a pencil, she was going to name off characteristics and they would have to write down what supernatural creature they thought it was. They had the competitors sit on the ground at least three yards from each other, like they were in middle school gym class. The first creature was clearly a ghoul which made Avery laugh to myself having just dealt with them. He knew that knowing how to identify what they were fighting would be important but he was in workout clothes expecting to do something physical, something badass. The next series of characteristics were for a vampire, boring. Vampires were not as scary as they made them seem in books and movies. Really they only feed about once a month and most of them have been around long enough to create an empire giving the hunters a run for their money. They took care of their own with blood banks that they ran legally. Hunters rarely had to go head to head with vampires since their elders set rules that if not followed lead to death or imprisonment. They were given enough characteristics to identify a few more creatures, shape shifter, djinn, banshee, poltergeist, and mermaids. He looked around to see how some of the other hunters were doing and some of them seemed to be struggling but that wasn't his problem at this point. They identified a few more before Flo returned to collect our sheets of paper. 

"What do you mean you put down demon? It’s a poltergeist!" He scolded Roz. She shrugged angrily at herself. 

"They're pretty similar." She defended. "I mean they both mess with your mind." 

"Poltergeist don't show themselves to you, they just move things to scare you." Her brother explained. "Demons show themselves in shadow form." He usually didn't roast her on not knowing stuff but they had a hunt and bragging rights against the Battalignas. They stood waiting in silence as Grandmother Li and a few of their parents checked everybody's answers. After a few minutes it was finally announced that the Cruz twins together had the least answers right. They were eliminated from the competition. Grandmother Li told the remaining competitors their next test would be weaponry skills. Finally something badass Avery was glad.


	5. Chapter 5 Eliminations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The competition to see which Hunter will be the ones to take the case in Colorado continues.

Chapter 5: Eliminations 

For the second test the remaining teams were separated. Each person would be competing alone, their individual scores would be added together at the end. Each was to pick whichever three weapons he or she wanted. He or she was going to be demonstrating their skills with each weapon to the parents and already eliminated kids. However, if one chose the same weapon as someone else then their skills would be compared to each other and only one person could get a perfect score, the others would be ranked lower. Those groups who were better skilled would move on to the third round. Avery's first choice was of course the throwing knives, his specialty. The second was the bow and arrow, and his third was the javelin. Roz chose three completely different weapons, they figured they didn't want to be compared against each other. She chose her silver chain, a shot gun, and the axe. They wanted to make sure that the judges saw that they were highly skilled all across the board. They didn't really pay attention to what the others chose, aside from Kit who also chose the bow and arrow, Avery was determined to take him down. 

First up was firearms, they went down the line with different types. Those of them who were not showing with whichever weapon was currently being showcased had to wait with the others in the lunchroom until it was their turn to showcase. It had been about another half hour before Roz, Anna, and Max were called to present with their choice of shot gun. Avery was sitting between the Maki siblings and Bea as they waited, the Santiagos sat with Kit on the other side of the room. Avery felt like they were back in school testing for their ranking. Kit kept his eyes on Avery the entire time, he could tell Kit was trying to play mind games as if it was going to work. It was something Kit had always done growing up, Avery was getting better at dealing with it, he ignored it-to kit’s dismay-and made conversation with those at his table. He wasn't sure whether Roz had thought of it or not, but he thought they should consider taking back up. They were still relatively clueless about what was happening in Colorado, it may turn out to be too much for just two hunters. They needed to keep positive relations with some people. Max and Anna returned but Roz stayed since she was going to show her axe skills next, she was the only one in that category. A few more minutes passed until Roz returned. Flo called Avery and Mike up to present. They were going to show off their knife throwing skills. At least Avery was, Mike had chosen the throwing stars instead. The two weapons were similar enough to be showcased together. Avery looked to his sister for some sort of signal of how she had done in her first two showings but she just shrugged. He didn't know how to take that.

The training arena had been set up so that they were throwing their weapons at target dummies on the other side of the room. Their parents were seated along the wall behind them. There was only nine knives on a belt on the floor for Avery to use, Mike had the same amount of stars. The parents waited as the two put their weapons in their holsters and prepared to throw. Avery walked slowly past Mike and looked over the knives. They were good and sharp, not as high quality as his personal ones but they would do. His personal ones were pure silver with his initial engraved at the shaft. Mike studied her stars as well, she didn't seem to impressed. Throwing starts made in Asia are far superior than American ones. They strapped their weapons through out their bodies. Mike focused around her midsection mostly. Avery had to harness them on his legs and back to allow movement, his knives were about three times longer than the stars. Happy with their weapons placing the two turned back to Grandmother Li. The older woman nodded towards her granddaughter. 

"Good luck." He said quietly passing Mike as she waited for Grandmother Li to allow her to begin. Mike smiled and nodded in response. Grandmother Li nodded at her motioning to begin. The good thing about throwing knives and stars it that they are meant to be a distraction not a kill shot type of weapon. It forces the target to move and hopefully lose concentration to give the thrower a chance to attack with a deadlier weapon. Mike turned taking a deep breath before taking the first star. She pinched it between her fingers clearly going for a vertical throw. She placed her feet apart to give herself a better rocking motion. Avery watched intently from the side lines, he needed to see what she was doing so that he could do it better, or at least differently. She threw the first three all at the center dummy, all three hit its head less than half an inch from each other. She was good. She focused the next three on the dummy on the right, this time they hit its chest. She never stopped rocking back and forth as she prepared for the next dummy. The last dummy took all the stars on its limbs. She turned and bowed to our parents before walking over to where Avery was waiting to be called. Speed, was one thing he had on her, he had to throw his knives faster. Although her stance and aim were near perfect, when in a hunt whatever creature you fight won't wait while you prepare to throw, not to mention when up against several things they won't stand still as you take them out one by one. Avery had to create a sense of urgency and show the others that he knew this hunt wasn't a training session, he had to attack them all in random order. He waited for Grandmother Li to signal him to begin. Keeping a clear mind was important, the more he thought about it the more he planned out his attack, in real life he wouldn't have that luxury, and he needed this to be organic. He was getting impatient, time goes by a lot slower when you're trying not to think. Finally she nodded at him after what felt like forever. He turned quickly already pulling out his first knife with his left hand, the swiftness of his turn gave him the momentum he needed to follow through on the throw. He didn't pay attention to where it landed exactly, He just knew it hit a dummy from the loud thud that echoed through the room. He drew his second knife from the back of his belt with his right hand and threw it directly at the center dummy. Another thundering thud filled the room. His left hand was already swinging out hurling the next knife towards the dummy farthest on the left. The throw made him end up with his side towards the dummies, he drew again with his right hand and threw a back hander to the farthest right. It was all happening so fast, he felt oddly at peace. He had so much adrenaline surging through him, he just let his limbs take over as if they had a mind of their own. He fell to his knees and drew, simultaneously throwing two knives at the dummies calves, the knives sliced through the legs and hit the wall behind them sticking to the padding. He put his left leg out and wrapped his arms over his right leg. He rocked back arching out his back and rolling over his right shoulder, he pushed himself up to his feet standing again. He drew the next knife, it had been strapped on his calf, and launched it again at the center dummy. The adrenaline was pumping through him, for a second he felt unstoppable, he drew the last two knives and faced the parents. They all went rigid, he couldn't help but smile at them. He turned quickly launching both knives together, they both hit the center dummies heart. All the parents sat quietly, he wasn't really sure if it was good or bad, he didn't really care. He bowed to Grandmother Li and joined Mike on the sidelines. Grandmother Li didn't show any positive or negative emotion. Maybe that's why Roz had just shrugged. Flo directed them back to the lunch room with the others. Rei, Kit and Ruben were summoned next. Immediately Avery walked to Roz to see how she thought her tests were going. Apparently when it came to the shot gun tests they were asked to perform simultaneously. Nobody had heard any positive or negative feedback yet. They sat together in the back of the room after he told her about having possible back up. She admitted that she wanted Bea and Anna to go with them. Avery wasn't entirely sold on them, like the Santiago brothers they didn't leave much of an impression. Bea seemed like an interesting girl, Anna however was as dull as the color gray. He had been partnered with her for a project in school and he had wanted to kill himself by then end of the week. But who knew maybe they would do well in this competition. He looked at the clock, it was nearing 6:30 p.m., and they still had more skill showcasing and yet another test after this. Avery just wanted to get it over with and get to the real hunt. 

 

Several minutes passed and Avery was summoned to showcase his skills with the javelin. He was up against Stefan this time. Each boy was given three javelins each to throw at different targets. Both of them would be going at the same time. Flo was handed a remote which would make the dummies light up. Whoever hit the dummy first and closest to the heart would get a higher score. Avery lifted the first javelin and rolled it in my hands feeling the weight of it. He wasn't worried about Stefan, or his brother for that matter. He knew they preferred to use guns and cross bows, Avery was sure he had the upper hand. When it was all said and done he was sure he had a higher score. Stefan was a bit faster than Avery but he was uncoordinated and missed the dummy completely the first two times. Avery may have been a second behind him but always hit the chest. They both bowed to the parents and headed back into the lunch room. Avery didn't have a chance to speak to Roz because she was next to go, her last weapon the silver chain, surprisingly Anna was showing that too. He sat alone waiting for the next set of hunters to present, he knew that next he’d be up against Kit, Bea, and Ruben he didn't care for the latter two. As far as he was concerned this competition had always been between the Bishops and the Battalignas, and the Bishops were going to destroy them. 

 

Roz made her way to the showroom with Anna. She tried to size the other huntress up but Anna showed no emotion, something Roz loved and loathed about the girl. Great poker face, horrible charades partner. She wasn't sure how exactly they would be judging them on this particular skill. She just knew that she had to win because the silver chain was her thing. Anna getting s higher score on this was not an option. They walked in to see that the room had been rearranged to have two groups of dummies in circles. They were each given a chain to use. Roz ran the chain through her hand feeling the weight and texture. She let it fall to see how long it was. Each girl was made to stand in the center of one of the dummy circles. They were going to be given thirty seconds to attack the dummies. The dummies would light up every time they were hit. Whoever landed the most hits would get the higher score. Roz began swinging her chain slowly to gain some momentum, finally Grandmother Li gave them the go ahead. Immediately Roz launched her chain forward hitting the dummy directly in front of her. She recoiled it under her arm hitting the one behind her, at the same time she extended her leg kicking the first dummy again. Grandmother Li had not mentioned anything about only using the chain. Her father had always told her that a hunter’s weapon of choice should be an extension of their body.She turned mid kick and swung the chain to her side, it swung over her. She brought her hand directly down, the chain dragged down across one of the dummies face slicing at the padding. She stood quickly already swinging the chain. She wasn't paying attention to how Anna was doing, hopefully bad. She released the chain to the last dummy wrapping it around its neck. She pulled back as hard as she could pulling the dummy down. She stepped forward to slam the dummy with her leg as she unraveled the chain. She turned swinging the chain at the other dummies. It moved her arm in a sharp zigzag motion. The chain hit two of the dummies leaving cuts on the places it hit. She swung the chain wide above her turning readying a kick. She swung her leg to the dummy on her right and hitting the dummy on the left with her chain. She stopped when she heard a bell ring. It had been thirty seconds. She wound the chain back up before handing it back to Flo. She and Anna bowed and left the room. 

 

Avery and the others were all told to stand on the sideline and given four arrows to shoot. The parents had dummies lined up all along the wall and obstacles in the competitors' way, they were going to run across and shoot the arrows. Ruben was the first to go. He had a tough time loading his bow let alone run while doing it. The others watched him struggle to perform and had to try to keep a straight face. He was definitely out of the running for Avery's back up. "For a group of people who claimed that "royal" blood was better they sure didn't seem to be doing “better" Avery thought to himself. There was a reason why they were taught to use all types of weapons, each one taught them a new skill. Even if they never used a specific weapon again the skills should stay, balance, coordination, focus, quick reflex, composure, these things stayed with you. Those things were really what they were being tested on. Kit was the next to go, he seemed more comfortable with the bow and arrow and stepped forward with his arrow already loaded. Watching him made Avery's adrenaline begin to run, he was dying to show his skills. He was dying to show that he was better than Kit. Avery's need to prove himself sky rocketed whenever Kit and Max were around. He knew it, they knew, it made them smirk to know they had this effect on him. He had to use the frustration they caused as motivation to propel himself forward. Kit ran across quickly shooting all four arrows, the first three hit the dummies but the last missed by about an inch and stuck to the wall behind it. He returned dissatisfied with his performance, he knew he had left room for Avery to outdo him. Avery was set next to go. The adrenaline in his blood stream caused him to move forward before he was called to do so. He was already aiming by the time he took his first step, shooting the first dummy. He drew the next arrow and jumped over the first box in his way. He let go of the arrow as soon as he landed on the other side and had a steady hand. He kept moving forward drawing the next arrow, he loaded the arrow as he turned behind a pillar they had put for them. He let go of the arrow immediately after he cleared the other side of the pillar. He took the last of his arrows and held it in his free hand. He knew he needed to do something to set himself apart from Kit. He ran towards the next obstacle and lifted his arms up and hurdling himself into an aerial cartwheel. He threw his body as hard as he could to make sure he cleared the medicine ball on the ground. Something tugged on his left hand-the bow was pulled away from him. It had caught in the handle of the medicine ball. The loss of the bow threw his balance off forcing him to land on his knees, he needed to recover fast but retrieving the bow would cost him too much time. He turned to the dummy with his arrow still in hand and threw it like a javelin. It stabbed the dummy's leg, he was done. Avery turned to see Kit smiling to himself happy at his slip ups. 

"Great save Mr. Bishops." He heard Grandmother Li say from the back of the room. "Quick reflexes and thinking is always a plus," He bowed but he was still disappointed in himself. "But next time please wait until I signal you to go." Avery had completely forgotten that he had jumped into the obstacle course without being asked. He had to think of something to say quickly.

"With all due respect Grandmother Li," He said motioning behind him to the dummies. "But in the real world nobody is going to wait for a signal to start." The room was silent, all eyes on Avery. He could already hear his mother scolding him for this. "They will try to attack first." He bowed and walked back with the others. The room was still heavy with discomfort, the only sound was the scuff of his shoes on the floor. 

"Something that only experience can teach us." It was the first time Avery had seen her smile. "Thank you." She bowed as well. He wasn't sure how to react but he was going to hope for the best. It was really all he could do at this point. He wasn't really sure how Bea's performance went, he was too concerned with making sure he kept his composure in front of the parents. It was one of the first things he had learned in school, fake it, fake it, fake it. Eventually it would be made a reality. The hunters were dismissed shortly after and headed back to the lunchroom. Roz was immediately on him asking how it all went. He told her about his slip up and his rhetoric with Grandmother Li. She wasn't sure how to take the response either. The two waited while the rest of the hunters performed. The waiting was almost painful. They had no windows in the waiting room, no connection to the outside world. The only people they could speak to were their competition. They didn't even know what weapons the other had used, it didn't matter because Roz and Avery were done, there was nothing they could do to change the outcome now. It took about another half hour before they were all summoned to be told who would no longer be in the running. It turned out to be the Santiago brothers who were disqualified with the lowest score. They weren’t happy about but neither Roz or Avery cared. Nobody else seemed to be surprised at the decision. It was time for the third and final test. There was only four teams left and the Bishops siblings was one of them. 

 

The last test would be a hand to hand combat, two on two. The first teams up were the Maki siblings versus Bea and Anna. Roz and Avery were going to be going up against the Battalignas. It was a bit disappointing that this was when they would fight them, Avery was hoping they would be the last two remaining, that way they could be that much more heartbroken when he and Roz won. Roz and Avery were isolated from Max and Kit in a small room, they decided to stretch some more to remain limber. They wanted to come up with a fight plan but they were not sure which way the Battalignas would go. Only about ten minutes passed before they were called back into the training hall. Turns out that the Makis had won their duel. Avery wasn't surprised, he was rooting for them anyways. It was their turn. Roz and he stood opposite Max and Kit in the center of the room. They were forced to shake hands with both of them. They just smirked at Avery but he heard them both whisper things to Roz, probably something sexist. He turned to her to see her reaction. She mouthed the word "destroy" to her brother, so it was something sexist. Grandmother Li signaled for them to go. Roz and Avery kept still waiting to see what the Battalignas would do. They began to circle them but the Bishops stayed together. Working as a team was one of their strengths. It was becoming clear that Max and Kit were going for the divide and conquer direction. Max lunged forward to kick at Avery. Avery sidestepped and pushed Max's leg aside forcing him to lose his balance. Max rolled into the push and somersaulted a few feet away. Kit came at him next almost immediately. Avery leaned away and waited until Kit was directly in front of me. He rocked forward as hard as he could jamming his shoulder into Kit's side as hard as he could. Kit doubled over in front of him. Avery lifted his leg for a swift kick but was tackled to the ground by Max. He landed on his side. Max straddled his waist, using his weight to hold Avery's arm in place. Max swung back to strike but was stopped by Roz who used her weight to counter act his momentum. Either her fell back with her or she would most likely dislocate his arm, or worse break it. He fell back with her. Roz rolled on her back never letting go of his arm. He rolled with her and tried to twist his arm out of her grasp. He landed on his knees with Roz still on his arm. He tried to swing at her but she turned her body and his arm with her. The pain forced him downward. She used the leverage to kick him in the stomach and finally letting go. Avery didn't have a chance to get up before Kit appeared already swinging his leg down at him. Avery rolled into him bulldozing his other leg. Kit fell forward, his knee jamming into Avery’s arm. It hurt but Avery knew it would hurt more to be kicked in the face. He should be thankful for avoiding that. He continued to roll forcing Kit to step over him. He turned quickly and ended in a crouching position. Kit was already charging at him but he held his ground. Kit lifted his knee towards Avery's face but Avery turned in time to derail him using his weight to push Kit down. He landed on his back and Avery pinned his legs down. He swung at Avery several times landing two on his shoulder and neck. There wasn't much Avery could do in this position so he jumped back and stood waiting for Kit to attack. Kit stood up and faced Avery squarely. Avery steadied his stance waiting to see his next move. He heard footsteps behind him approaching quickly. 

"Ave, kneel!" Roz ordered as she got closer to him. Avery knew what she was doing, she needed a jump off point. It was something that they had worked on perfecting since they were kids. Avery dropped to his knees and arched his back with his head down. He felt Roz's hands pushing off of him to lift herself. He looked up just in time to see her fly through the air doing the splits. It was like a deadly game of leap frog. Kit looked at her in confusion and shock. She leaned back and grappled his head with her thighs. She forced herself down and pulled him down with her. He landed on his back with a snap. The whole room stopped in shock. Roz stood perfectly fine, Kit however was rolling on the floor screaming and holding his arm. "It's just dislocated." Roz said rolling her eyes and turned around. She turned back to Kit "and you said my vagina was nothing but a setback." She laughed and turned to Max who was standing looking at his brother on the ground. He knew that alone he didn't stand a chance against both of the Bishops siblings. Avery ran at him and threw himself down swinging his legs at Max. Max fell backwards with a loud thud. Roz and Avery stood over him waiting for him to move. Kit was still screaming in the background. Max crawled backwards holding his hand out. 

"Stop! Stop!" He begged pushing himself further back. The Bishops weren't sure what to do. 

"Max! Keep fighting!" Kit yelled from behind them. He was now up against the wall and pushing his shoulder against it trying to push it back in place. Roz and Avery looked to Grandmother Li.

"Do you give up?" She asked Max. He nodded looking back at her. Kit was still shouting against his decision in the back. Grandmother Li nodded and raised her hand. "Roslyn and Avery win this round." She pointed to Kit like a kid throwing a tantrum in a grocery store. "Take care of him." She demanded to the group of parents. They all headed to him and gathered around. Avery offered his hand to Max but he angrily declined. Avery shrugged, Max could be mad all he wanted it was his decision to give up. They all heard a snap followed by Kit's scream from the group of parent behind them. They turned to see him trying to move his now bruised and swollen shoulder. Grandmother Li seemed unimpressed with the whole ordeal. She directed everyone but Roz and Avery to sit down. Several moments later Rei and Mike joined them in the center of the room. The four remaining competitors were told that the decision would come down to a one on one duel. They would flip a coin, heads the girls would fight, tails the boys would fight. Flo flipped the coin revealing it would be Roz versus Mike. Rei and Avery were told to sit on the sidelines as the girls readied themselves. Avery had no doubt in Roz's capabilities, she was the reason why they had won the last duel after all. He and Rei sat on the floor up against the wall. 

"Mike and I want you and Roz for backup." Rei confessed. It took Avery by surprise that Rei was even saying it right now. Mostly because he had only heard him speak like two sentences since they had met.

"Really?" He asked looking out at Roz and Mike the two were stretching again, they were still somewhat sore from their previous fights. Rei just nodded, he didn't speak much, ever. "Because we want you guys as back up." Avery admitted. Both boys sat there for a few seconds thinking. "Do we really need this last fight?" Avery stood up trying not to groan at the pain on neck. "I mean regardless we are all going on this hunt. Right?" Rei stood with him, he knew where we Avery was going with it. "Let's go as a team not leads and backups." Rei nodded in agreement. They both turned to their sisters and started walking towards them together, Avery looked in the direction of the parents and saw Max scowling in the back. Avery winked and did a double finger pistol hand gesture at him. He could practically feel the anger coming off of Max. He saw Kit sitting with Flo holding some soft of pack over his wounded shoulder. Part of Avery felt bad that Kit had lost his chance at the hunt. It was apparent how badly he wanted this, but regardless his brother Max was the one who pulled out of the running taking him along. 

"What is going on?" Mike looked between the two boys. Avery put an arm out and helped Roz to her feet. Rei explained about how both teams planned on bringing the other along. 

"So we call it a tie?" Avery could see the relief wash over Roz, she might have been tough but this competition was tough on all of them. She looked at her brother, they always made decisions as a team. "Do you really want to do this?" She asked, she looked at the other two, making sure they were all on the same page. Avery nodded.

"Regardless of who wins, we don't know what is out there, a team is our best bet." Rei explained. "Let's just call it a day and celebrate."

"We can worry about the rest tomorrow." Avery smiled. "Do you guys really want to fight again?" He asked both girls. Roz just laughed and shrugged.

"As a team." She said holding her hand out to mike.

"As a team." She responded shaking Roz's hand.

 

"Ladies," Grandmother Li interrupted. "Care to share what is going on with the rest of the room?"

"This competition is over." Roz said stepping forward. She didn't get to finish her statement before the room was whispering. "All four of us will be going on this hunt." Grandmother Li looked to her grandchildren, they nodded in agreement with Roz.

"Very well." She turned to the others. "It appears they have made a decision." She immediately turned and left the room not waiting for anybody else’s input on the matter. Rei and Mike shrugged and followed her, Roz and Avery followed them. Avery stopped at the door a bit hesitant but decided on it anyway. He turned back to Flo and tilted my head asking her to come with him. After all they did still have a party to finish. She blushed and looked at her mother asking for permission. Her mother looked at Avery intently for a few seconds but nodded when Flo asked her again, maybe she didn't completely hate him after all. Flo moved hurriedly towards him and they left heading back to the penthouse.


	6. Roads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The competition is over but now the real world awaits. The hunters head out to Colorado in investigate.

Chapter 6: Roads  
After the four winning hunters left the room Kit began to throw a fit again about how the hunt was his to pursue. Most people dismissed his tantrum and headed back to the penthouse, his mother however decided to stay back and scold him. She smacked the tantrum out of him, and yelled about decorum and respect for other hunters. Even if she had agreed with him, they had a standard to keep. In most people's opinion it was about time she beat his ass anyways. When they arrived back to the Bishops' home she and Mrs. Bishops checked over his shoulder. Avery spent most of the night with Flo. They talked about anything that they could think of. She asked to see his room and they spent quite a bit of time there, with the door open of course, mostly for both their mothers' sakes (even though they were both of age). It was hard for him to believe that the two of them had never really interacted before. Being around her made him feel calm, which was new for him. Usually being around someone he was attracted to lead to awkward moments mostly made awkward by him. Dry mouth, sweaty palms, voice cracking, none of that happened with her. This felt different. Unfortunately for them the night had to end, because of the competition they lost about four hours that they could have spent together. This meant Flo had to go back to school and he had to refocus on Colorado. They exchanged numbers of course to keep in contact.

Rei and Mike stayed with the Bishops for the next few days leading up to Colorado. The four young hunters had decided that driving was their best option, there was no way they could get all of their weapons past any airport security, and a private plane would bring too much unwanted attention to them. They needed to be as unrecognized as possible. They were going to pretend to be two couples on a road trip across the country. Even though most people don't know their faces giving away too much information about themselves could be dangerous. Both of their family names were feared in the organized supernatural world and the lesser known hunting families. The Bishops and Maki families' past generations had acquired many enemies, enemies who would jump at the chance to use the four hunters for their personal agendas. What is the best way to destroy a person than hurting their children? They may have been top ranked among the royals but they were still young, new, and relatively naive to most of the supernatural world. Sometimes having so much power made them feel powerless.   
They had divided their duties. Mike was in charge of gathering information about the murder cases, and missing persons. Rei was in charge of maps and navigation. Roz in charge of transportation and weaponry. Avery was, well he was in charge of supplies and food. It wasn't as exciting but it was necessary. Surprisingly the Bishops didn't have any camping supplies at home or at the training facility. None of them had never actually been camping so Avery didn't know what he would need to purchase. Thankfully he had the family black card so he could have bought the whole store if he wanted to. The girls at the store were more than happy to help. One of them, a redhead with curly hair, took the chance to touch his arm whenever she could. The other, a pixie cut blonde, didn't seem to approve of that very much. They went on and on about the camping trips they went on when they were kids. All he could do was smile and nod along as if interested. Honestly camping to him sounded horrible, and he was thankful that his parents loved him and his sister enough not to force them to do it as a children. This was different though, they weren't camping for fun-well, they weren't really camping at all. They were looking for something killing people, something they had to stop. It just happened to be in a camping type environment. He was just hoping that the girls would spill camping insider secrets they could only learned with experience, and my God did they spill. One of them told a story about wiping with a leaf after using the restroom, too much information. The other told him about how her father taught her to filter dirty water with rocks, sand, and charcoal, He actually did find that interesting. By the time Avery left the store his car was packed. Canned food, multiple water containers, tents, foldable chairs, lighters, sleeping bags, the list went on and on. It was a good thing they weren't taking his car but Roz's large SUV, otherwise they would have been riding a bit tight. Now all he had to do was figure out how all of this stuff was set up. By the time he arrived home with the supplies, the other three were waiting for him ready to load Roz's vehicle. They didn't want to wait any longer, Rei had planned out a way as far as he could, and the woods didn't really have clearly marked roads. Mike had trouble finding more new information on cases, it seemed like the police there was very hush about the situation. Roz was all locked and loaded with weapons and ammunition. All that was left was packing up. Avery didn't complain because he couldn't wait either. Nobody could really blame them for being excited, even though they could all potentially die, it was still new and exciting for them to go on their own. Less than an hour later the four kids were on their way out of the city headed west. They had said their goodbyes to their parents only to be lectured the entire time, but still they were going, they were finally on to the hunt. 

The majority of the ride there was uneventful. Roz drove while Rei navigated. Mike and Avery sat in the back seat looking through all of the information Mike had gathered. It was hard for the pair to decipher what they were dealing with. All they really knew was that almost every missing person had only left a small amount of blood, as if from a minor cut, at their camping site. Most of them were dragged miles away where they were killed. Their supplies were gone, mostly tents, and sleeping bags were found. Then there was the claw marks on the trees. All had three vertical scratches near the root of the tree. It was animalistic nature to mark your territory, but to be so consistent about it was human. It seemed like a ritual that everything was almost ideal, ritual was definitely a human trait. Human traits in the supernatural were hard to diagnose since humans were very unpredictable. Unpredictable was dangerous. The radius of the killings was pretty wide almost twenty miles span of land. Which meant this thing was nomadic in nature or really, really fast when hunting. For their sake Avery hoped the latter was false. The four did stop at several places along the way. Mostly restaurants they had never heard of. The Waffle House was an interesting place. Midwest people were friendly for the most part, easy to talk to. Regardless the hunters acted within their facade the whole time. As far as the locals knew they were from Maine driving cross country to visit some old friends in L.A. Mike and Avery were the new couple, while Rei and Roz had been together for four years now. They tried their best to never give out names, even fake ones, mostly because it was easy to slip up with them. They stuck to calling each other things like darling, sweetie, babe and any other lovey dovey crap they could muster up. They avoided staying anywhere too long, an hour max. Rei took over driving eight hours into it so Roz could rest. Mike and Avery spent a lot playing cards in the back. They were about an hour away from the edge of the forest by car and about five hours away from the creature's hunting grounds by foot. It was really no wonder that this thing had gone unseen for so long, it lived so far away from humanity. Those poor people it killed had no chance, they were so distanced from others, and it was honestly a miracle some of their things were even found. It must have been because this thing slipped up.

The car began to shake slightly, Rei pulled over to the side of the road. The loud thunk sounds the back tire was making were unmistakable, a flat tire. Damn, they all hated doing this. 

"I think we got a flat tire." Mike said looking out of her window. Rei, Mike, and Avery all got out and ran over to check. The tire was completely deflated, they were surprised the rim wasn't damaged with all the weight in the back of the vehicle.

"What did me run over?" Avery asked looking down the road. It was too bright to see anything on the road aside from other cars. 

Roz stepped out stumbling a bit still sleepy. "Who cares let’s just switch it with the spare, it’s going to rain." She mumbled pointing to the west of them. The sky was getting dark, and moving their way. The beautiful sunny day they were having was coming to quick ending. "C'mon." She opened the trunk and began to take out all of the supplies to find the spare under its cover. Avery helped her making sure any questionable items were hidden from view if anyone drove by. It took a few minutes since they had packed it completely but between the four of them they managed. The girls removed the metal cover from the tire while Rei and Avery tried to figure out the jack. It was comical considering all of the survival skills they were taught and they had no idea how to start changing a tire. That was the rich kid part of them taking over. Mike was the one who thought of just looking it up on her phone. She found a step by step video to tell them what to do. It took them sometime but they managed to lift it up enough to remove the flat. Roz lifted the spare and Avery put the flat into the back of the SUV. It was clear that all four of them were all trying to keep from laughing at how much they were failing at being adult hunters so far. They can just imagine going home and reporting a failed hunt due to a flat tire. They'd never live it down. Rei and Roz put on the spare while Mike and Avery replaced all of their supplies back inside. It started to thunder from the west. 

"Let's hurry." Mike said closing the trunk. "There is a town a few minutes away," She pointed to a sign a few hundred feet behind them. "We can stop there and have a legit tire installed." She was right, they needed something better than the spare when they would drive as far into the woods as they could. 

"We could stay at a motel for the night since it’s going to storm." Avery suggested. "We could even go ask around town, see if we can find out more info." They heard more thunder in the distance followed by rain. "Okay let's move it!" He said taking a hold of the cross wrench and helped tighten the bolts. Several minutes later they were back on the road with rain pelting the car. Roz took over driving again. Rei was quiet, he must have thought she was angry for the whole tire thing. About fifteen minutes later they entered a city called Boulder. They felt like they had been driving in circles until they spotted a repair shop. Luckily there was a motel about a block away. They checked in at the motel first so that they could move all of their weapons and questionable items out of the SUV before they handed the keys to some stranger who could easily ruin everything for them. They got two one bedrooms, they were relieved to find the bedrooms were adjoined. It was nice to be able to stretch out after hours of being cramped in the car. About half an hour later Mike and Avery sat on towels on the bed channel surfing when Roz and Rei ran in from dropping the car off, it was still raining so they were soaking. Mike and Avery had run across the street and gotten some burgers from some fast food place they had never heard of, so they were soaking as well. The four changed into sweats and t-shirts as fast as they could and several minutes later they all lay on the bed watching sitcom reruns stuffing their faces with the food their parents never allowed them to have. It was nice, for all of the time Roz and Avery spent together they never really just hung out. For as far as they could remember they had always been training or studying, or scheming on how to be better than some of the other families. This was different, it felt almost like they were spending time with friends, none of them had ever really had friends. The only people that they all knew were other hunters, and rarely did they want to spend time with them outside of necessity. 

Next thing Avery knew he was waking up entangled in limbs from the other three hunters. They had all fallen asleep together on top of all the food wrappers. He couldn't help but laugh at himself and the others. He pushed Rei's arm off of his ass and shimmied himself out of the bed. Roz mumbled something and turned over putting her leg over Mike's, Mike didn't seem to mind. He ran into the restroom to shower before the rest woke up, in case the hot water was in short supply. He didn't take very long in there but he had figured they'd be up by the time he was done. They were still sleeping when he walked out. He stood there unsure of what to do for a few minutes, he decided to go out and grabbed his wallet from the night stand walking out. He was hoping the fast food place sold breakfast, besides who knew when the next time that he was going to eat this unhealthily again. Turned out they did sell breakfast. He wasn't sure what to buy, so he bought anything that sounded good. The girl behind the counter looked him up and down clearly nobody had ever bough sixty dollars’ worth of food there before. He waited seated while they put his gigantic order together. The elderly people in the restaurant stared at him the whole time. It took him a second to figure out how to balance all the food in his arms, it didn't help that people were just watching him struggle instead of helping. When he finally got it all he slowly made his way towards the door and turned to use his back to push it open.

"I'll hold that." He heard a deep voice say from behind him. A very muscular arm reached behind him and pushed the door open. He turned to see a very tall blond man smiling at him, he had a great smile. He was handsome. Very handsome. Like disgustingly handsome. Avery smiled nodding at him, stumbling a bit. The man moved forward and caught a bag that fell from Avery's pile of food before it hit the floor.

"Thank you." Avery said as the blond put the bag back on top.  
"Feeding an army?" The man asked laughing. 

"You could say that." Avery responded. The man stared at him for a second focusing on his hair. He had put it in a bun before leaving the motel since it was still wet. The blonde’s eyes moved back to Avery's face. His eyes were blue and bright. He looked down to Avery's lips. Avery couldn't help but start to blush. He had seen enough movies to know what lip staring led to.

"You have a nice smile." The man said still staring. Avery let out a weird laugh, he didn't mean to it just happened. It wasn't a laugh, it felt like a gasp for air and a cough mixed together.

"Well," Avery began. He froze. Was he getting flustered over a guy? That's a first. The handsome blonde was looking at him waiting for him to finish his thought. Say something...Say anything! Avery thought to himself. "Well, you have a very nice," Jesus, was this man handsome. "Muscle..." Avery mentally sighed. Why is that the first thing he said? He looked down sighing, just walk away Avery, walk away. The man looked a bit flustered himself and ran a hand over his hair. His hand traveled down his face and over his neatly trimmed beard. 

"Thanks." He was clearly trying not to laugh. He had slight wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Avery figured they were from smiling. 

"I have to go." Avery said sidestepping away from the man's arm, he was still holding the door open. He could feel the heat from his arm travelling down his back. "You have a very nice muscle?!" Avery grumbled out when he was finally out of the building. He walked towards the four way intersection waiting for the light to allow him to walk across. He looked back at the building, the man was sitting by the closest window drinking coffee looking at him. The man waved at him. Since when was he attracted to guys? Avery just nodded back and turned around. It’s not like he thought liking guys was a bad thing, it’s was just that why now? Why had he not felt like this for any other guy before? The light finally signaled for him to walk, he booked it across the street making sure he didn’t look back at the handsome man. In his defense most of the guys he knew were either guys he went to school with or their fathers. He couldn't help but gag at either of those choices. Flo crossed his mind. That brought his train of thought to a screeching halt. What about his feelings for her? If he could call them feelings, more like infatuation with her. Of course here he was finally finding people who might be interested in him and neither might be a legitimate choice. Flo was a Battaligna, and blonde handsome guy was living in Colorado, where he was going to stay, and Avery was not. Unless he died in the woods during the hunt of course, then he'd be staying there forever. He had finally reached the motel, thank god. Maybe being around the others would make his mind stop torturing him. "Seriously though, I have to figure out this whole sudden sexual awakening thing." He thought to himself. "Both men and women. Does that make me bisexual? Bisexual." That was something he was going to have to put on the back burner for now. He couldn't reach for the doorknob on the door without dropping a bag of food so he opted for lightly tapping on the door with his foot. He heard scuffling on the other side followed by a light tapping sound on the door. Probably Roz holding a gun up to it just in case. "Roz, it’s me." He sighed. The bags were starting to feel heavy. She opened the door slowly and peeked out at him. "Out of the way." Avery grumbled pushing through and heading straight for the table. Rei was still sitting on the bed looking like he was still half asleep. He could hear the bathroom faucet running, it must have been Mike. 

"Did you buy the restaurant out of food?" Rei asked sitting in front of the pile of bags.

"What? Its good." Avery defended sitting across from him beginning to rummage through the bags. There was a cheese and bacon croissant sandwich in there that Avery would fight the others to the death in order to eat. 

"Nothing to drink?" Roz asked spraying dry shampoo in her hair. 

"I'll go down to the vending machine while you finish getting ready." Mike said walking straight out of the bathroom and out the door. Rei grabbed a few sandwiches and put them in a bag. He thought for a second then added a platter of pancakes to it. He set it aside and headed into the bathroom. It looked like Avery wasn't the only one taking advantage of being out on his own. Technically Roz and Avery had already been out on their own but they had only been a few hours away from home. Not to mention giving full reports to their parents who then walked them through what they would do, not that they did any of it. This was different, they were states away from their family, out of their reach, out of safety. That hit Avery hard, they were completely on their own, up to their own skills to survive. He was pretty sure not one of them knew how to properly camp out. They were in for an interesting few days. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, not many people had his number. 

"It's mom." He said looking at Roz. She checked her phone, she was usually the first one their parents would call. 

"They didn't call me." She was finally happy with her hair and sat down to eat. 

Avery answered the call, "Hey mom." If she was calling him directly than this must not be a hunting related thing. Maybe he had left the candles in his room on again. He liked the smell of vanilla, it relaxed him.

"Avery Julian Bishops!" Oh no, middle name meant he was in trouble. Probably the candles. He just made a mumbling sound to let her know he was there. Roz made a sour face, clearly she had heard Mom through the phone. Avery stood and walked into the adjacent room for privacy. "When were you going to tell me you lost your pendant?!" 

How the hell did she find out? "Mom, listen…" She continued to yell, clearly she was not looking for an answer to her question.

"I have told you countless time, you are to wear it at all times!" 

"Sorry, but Roz gave me one of the copies she had made." He explained. "I hadn't realized I had lost it until the next day."

"Why does Roslyn have multiple pendants?" She asked angrily. Crap, he thought, he had just thrown his sister under the bus. 

"Mom, calm down." He continued. "We knew you'd get angry and besides the pendants are identical and this second one means just as much to me as the first one."

"You don't understand!" He could hear his dad talking in the background asking her to take a deep breath. "Your pendant..." His dad was still whispering. "You need to wear THIS pendant."

"Mom, I'm sorry I really am." Roz opened the door and peeked in from the other side. She pointed to her phone confused. It was a text from their dad, asking her why she had multiple pendants. Avery just shrugged and pointed to his phone. She rolled her eyes and closed the door again. 

"Avery," His mother was calmer now. "It is very important to me that you wear the pendant I gave you when we adopted you." 

"How did you know I lost it?" He looked over the pendant Roz gave me. It was identical to his original one, he didn't understand the big deal.

"The cleaners dropped it off after you guys left the scene in Milwaukee." That made sense. "They said it was in the basement or something."

"One of the ghouls got pretty close to my chest, it must have broken the necklace." Avery took a deep breath, how could he fix this? He thought he should start with the pendant. "It probably needs fixing anyways," Mike opened the door and motioned for him to go into the other room with the others. "Send it in to get fixed and I'll switch back when we get back home." 

"You really need to..." She began to speak again. Mike cleared her throat, clearly it was more important than he had thought. 

"Mom, I'm sorry, but I got to go." He almost hung up but decided on something better. "Something about the hunt." Then he hung up. His mother was going to kill him when he got home, but whatever. Maybe whatever was in the woods would kill him before that, hopefully. 

"What the hell?" Roz asked as soon as her brother entered the other room.

"Sorry, she was yelling at me and I wasn't thinking. Then I blurted it out."

"Well now we're both in trouble." She huffed. She responded the text and immediately turned off her phone. Avery followed her lead and did the same, the last thing they needed was their parents calling them and causing them to lose focus.

"She's really mad." Avery said sitting down again and continuing to eat. "I don't know what is so special about it." Roz looked over her own pendant.

"Okay guys refocus." Mike said clapping to get their attention. "We need a game plan for today."

"The repair shop isn't open until like 10:30 so we got a few hours before that." Roz said. "They also had a few cars ahead of mine, they said it might be close to like noon before they get to it." 

"Okay." Mike thought for a second. "We are a few hours from where we need to be."

"Six hours actually." Roz responded. Avery just nodded along. The more they spoke the less he listened, not because he didn't want to but because he heard something. He heard a ringing. Very very soft ringing. Maybe he had gotten water in his ear when he had showered. The other two didn't seem to be bothered by it so clearly it was just Avery hearing it. The more he thought about it the louder it seemed to get. It wasn't overwhelming, more like a cellphone ringing from another room covered by a pillow or something. Very muffled. It sounded like a song, maybe his brain was trying to find a song in it. Much like people's eyes try to find faces in abstract things they see. Maybe it was resonance from his mom screaming at him over the phone. He smiled at that thought.

"So?" He heard Mike ask him. He looked at her confused. Could he be any more obvious about not listening to her? "What do you think about staying in town one more day and leaving tomorrow?" She asked, technically repeated since he didn't hear her the first time. 

"Oh, yeah." He said eating the last bit of sandwich. "I mean even if they get to the SUV exactly at noon it will me like 7 PM by the time we reach the hunting area. Then we would need to set up camp and all that."

"It wouldn't be very smart to hunt at night if we can avoid it." Roz agreed. "So are going to split up and ask around." Mike nodded then pointed at Avery.

"Let's go shopping then sweetheart." Mike smiled at Him. He narrowed his eyes at her playfully. She began to dig through her clothes. 

"Anything for you babe." Avery answered back just as mockingly. It was something that they had been doing the whole time they had been on the road. They would do it mockingly when alone. They had packed normal clothes along with their hunting clothes to blend in easier. She pulled out a floral skirt and a crop top that matched one of the many pinks in the skirt. 

"I'm going to change into this real quick." She walked into the adjoining room. Roz sighed and began to look through her own clothes. She chose a very form fitting dress which she covered with an oversized cardigan. Her brother was already wearing normal clothes. Fitted black jeans, worn and faded, boots to match. His favorite white tank top, it was oversized and long enough to reach mid-thigh, it had a picture of a small fox with the words FOR FOX SAKE underneath it, Roz had given it to him a few years ago. He finished it all off with a flannel button down left open with the sleeves rolled up. A bit grungy but whatever, he liked it. Roz always teased about how he was missing the slouchy beanie, but Avery doesn't do hats. Once they were all done eating and dressed normally the four headed out. Mike and Avery decided on scouring the west end of Boulder and their siblings took the east. They were going to be spending the next few hours together and meeting up for dinner around five. They didn't know what Boulder, Colorado had in store for them, but they were ready.


	7. Luminous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunters split up to look around Boulder, Colorado. Things get difficult for Avery when he starts to see things that may not be there. Not to mention the ringing keeps haunting him.

Chapter 7 Luminous

Boulder was a busy place. People moved about shopping and meeting with friends. The area Mike and Avery were in had a nice aura about it. A mixture of downtown Chicago and L.A. swirled together. The building reminded him a lot of the ones he had seen in Sunnyvale on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A lot of bricks, open areas, places to sit surrounded by flowers. It was a nice change to the busy "get out of the way" attitude Chicago and New York had. People in Boulder seemed to have places to go but they were not at all in a hurry to get there. However as laid back as they were they refused to talk about what the two wanted to talk about. They all asked them the same questions, how long had they been together, how they met, they commented on their looks. The two hunters quickly figured out that they were both Colorado 10s, it was nice from being Chicago 7's. As annoying as not finding information was, it was nice to be called handsome and stunning several times in one day. 

Mike walked with her arm wrapped around Avery’s. At first he wasn't really sure about spending hours alone with her. She was nice and all but they had never really done anything like this. She didn't seem too bothered by it so he tried to hide any discomfort he felt. She was actually really good at pretending they were together. Avery wished he could pretend as well as she could but acting was not exactly his forte, good thing he was a hunter. 

"This is weird huh?" She said looking up at him. They decided to take a small break from talking to people. Avery thought maybe they could use the time to actually talk to each other. He was trying to think of where they should head next, her voice broke through his thoughts. 

"It's not so bad." He lied. She narrowed her eyes at him smiling coyly. He may have fooled all the people living there but not her. 

"It is weird." She laughed. "I've never been with anybody and now I have to pretend to be with you," It was shocking to hear she had never been with anyone. “Our lives might literally depend on our pretend relationship."

"It could be worse." Hearing that she was as uncomfortable with this as he was made him feel a bit more okay with this. "I mean you could be here with one of the Battaligna boys." She scoffed rolling her eyes. "I'm sure either one of them would be okay with a girl being here."

"There is no way I would have been mildly okay with partnering up with them." They passed a group of teenage boys who were very unsubtle of checking Mike out. Avery turned making sure to make eye contact with as many of them as possible. She may not have been his girlfriend but he was not going to let a bunch of disrespectful brats treat her like some piece of meat. He believed there was a way to check someone out without being obnoxious about it. Not that Mike was not attractive because she was gorgeous. She was like one of those beauty pageant contestants, one that could kick his ass if he pissed her off. She had wide expressive eyes with angular full dark lashes. Her lips were curved up but not full. They complimented her high cheek bones and sleek pixie nose. She had dark straight hair pulled back into a French braid. It fell a few inches below her shoulder blades. It used to be much longer when they were in school but after they had graduated she cut it, he remembered it would constantly get in her way when training, it would be worse in an actual hunt. She pointed to a floral shop across the street. "Let's go check it out." He just nodded and led her to it. 

"I've never been with anyone either." Avery admitted once they were inside looking through all of the flowers. It was calming in there. The feeling of love was almost palpable to him, unfortunately so was the feeling of condolence, it was a weird feeling having the two mixing together. Was this how everybody felt when they walked into a floral shop? Maybe he was just imagining what others felt when they actually purchased flowers. 

"I don't think any of us have been with anybody." Mike said looking at a bouquet of lilies. "I mean with all of the training we constantly do who has time for a social life." 

"What you don't consider the other "Royals" part of your social life?" Avery teased. He assumed that all of the Royal families felt the same way about each other solely based on the way we all treated each other for as long as he’d been alive.

"Not really." She dipped down to smell the bouquet. "Considering how catty we all are with each other." She looked over at him. To gage his reaction. "I mean before these last few days, I never really spoke to any of you." She moved on to the next set of flowers on display. "Aside from the small pointless chit chat at our little parties." She was right, Avery thought that they should know more about each other or at least be on semi-friendly terms. 

"That's fair to say." He agreed handing her a strand of yellow Sweet Peas. She smelled them smiling up at him. She turned to face the window and began to weave it into her braid. She managed to only lose one small flower from it.

"Thank you Hunny." She giggled. Literal joking around was much easier for them than pretending but the whole pretending thing was getting easier. She started looking around the other flowers.

"Anything for my Sweet Pea." Avery laughed. She reached and took a few minituare lilies from the shelf. 

"Get down." She said pointing to the floor. She was only about 5'7" tall so Avery kneeling was the only way she would ever be able to reach the top of his head. She pulled his hair out of the bun it was in and pulled it back into a half pony making sure to put the flowers into it. "Just like an elven prince." She said patting the back of his head. 

"Thank you." He bowed as regally as he could. He turned to look himself over in the window.

"You guys are really cute together." An elderly lady said from the end of the aisle. She was wearing a bright green apron with the shop's name on it. She was in the middle of watering the live plants in the store. 

"Thanks," Mike said pressing up against Avery. "We will pay for the flowers before we leave." She assured, she figured it was probably why the woman was watching them in the first place. 

The woman shook her head smiling. "Oh don't worry about them dear it was just a few." She motioned to both of them. "I was just watching you two together, you seem so in love." Mike and Avery looked at each other and smiled, mostly out of embarrassment but also because it meant they were pulling the acting thing off well. "I'm just glad to see my flowers are used for more than last minute gifts and condolence packages." She sighed looking at them. "I'm not the only one who has noticed you two." She nodded behind them where a group of women was watching them intently. A few of them waved whispering to each other. "Thank you for coming in." She continued watering the plants at the front of by the window. 

"We should probably go." Avery whispered taking her hand and leading her out. The group of women were still watching them as they walked away. "Where should we go next?" He asked her, clearly downtown was not helping them find any information. "Let's try an area a bit further towards the edge of town." He figured it would mean less people, less traffic, people would be willing to talk more about things. They walked about another hour more, the further they walked the less crowded the streets seemed to be with shops. They did stop at a few second hand stores along the way. One never know what they could find in a place like that. The people however were the same as the others had been downtown. One man did confirm that the cops were trying to keep things quiet to keep people away from the area. It wasn't much but it was something. It mean that it was much more serious than what the few clips of papers they had found led them to believe. The local authorities wouldn't hide "animal attacks" for just any reason. Someone in that town had to know more information, Avery and Mike just had to find them. They hit a point where the road was running out of shops for them to investigate. Only homes lay ahead of them, and they didn’t think people would talk if they went door to door asking about murders. There was one last store though. A small convenience store called Stuff and Things, Avery hoped it was supposed to be comical. They decided to try their luck there. The store was nice, small, and a bit over crowded with merchandise. But Avery supposed most convenience stores were, they tried to offer the most things in the smallest place possible. They had been walking for hours, the two were hungry and thirsty. So technically they were there for more than just information. The air conditioning was a nice contrast with the heat they had been dealing with all day. There was someone sitting at the front register reading a newspaper. Avery took a deep breath letting his body relax with the cool air inside. The newspaper folded almost instantly to reveal the person behind it. It was a handsome man. THE handsome man. The one he was awkward with that morning. “Oh no,” He thought to himself. The man recognized Avery instantly, he smiled the charming smile Avery fell for that morning. The man leaned forward, he seemed happy to see Avery. A bit too happy, Avery thought, considering the two had only spoken for two seconds total. 

"The water is over there." Mike said leading Avery to the back of the store by the hand. That took the smile away from the man’s face just as fast as it came. Avery could feel his eyes on him as he and Mike walked to the opposite corner of the store. It took all of the power Avery had in him to not turn around and look at the man as he walked with Mike. He did see the handsome face reflected in the refrigerated section of the back wall. The man was still watching. His friendly charisma from this morning was replaced by broody silence. Not that Avery didn’t kind of liked it. He had to remind himself to focus on whatever Mike was speaking about. He still had no idea what she was speaking to him about, clearly his focus was not on point. The longer the two spent in the store the faster his heart was starting to beat. He was breathing heavily, that could not be normal. He felt hot, like really hot. He turned to see the man was still staring at him, only him. Avery felt mike pull on his hand. His attention snapped back to her. "Avery are you okay?" She whispered. "You don't look so good."

"I'm a little hot." His voice sounded strained. Not strained in pain, the opposite actually. He was starting to feel aroused. It was embarrassing, he really needed to find a bathroom. The hunter looked around for the restroom sign. It was at the front of the store a few feet away from the ridiculously handsome man causing him his sexual discomfort. "I'll be right back." He huffed out turning back to Mike. She was surrounded in a mist of swirling mossy green lights. He closed his eyes and opened them up again, the lights were still there. "Excuse me." He began walking towards the front of the store. The man was still looking at him, his face contorted from brooding to looking concerned, great. He could feel the man’s concern, seeing it on his face caused Avery’s stomach to drop. He moved faster towards the restroom, he needed to be alone. He remembered he had felt like this during Roz and his' party and how being alone made him feel better. The bathroom door was locked, he knocked but nobody answered. It took him a few seconds to see the sign. “Ask the attendant for the key.” Dammit, he was trying to stay away from the man.

"You'll need this." It was him, the handsome man. Avery turned to him, he had his hand out with the key in it. 

"Thanks." Avery said smiling weakly. He was going to pretend to be okay even if it killed him. He was just prideful like that. He took the key, their fingers brushed for a slight second. The man’s fingers were warm, it made Avery’s tingle. The man looked down at his own fingers, maybe he had felt the tingle too. The swirl of mist returned. It surrounded the man this time. The mist had changed color though, cherry red. It was a good color on him. “Focus Avery, focus.” He thought to himself. He turned back to the door and struggled with the keys for a second before dropping them. Having the man so close to him was almost painful. What the hell was wrong with him? The handsome blonde stepped forward and leaned down to pick up the keys for him. Avery felt my jeans tighten a bit at the sight. “Jesus Christ this needs to stop.” Avery sighed closing his eye. The blonde opened the door for him and let him in. "Thanks, umm..." I looked for his name tag.

"Brooks." He responded still holding the door for him. Huh, deja vu of this morning. The swirling lights around him were getting brighter.

"Of course you have a hot name." Avery muttered stepping into the restroom. He heard the man laugh on the other side of the door. He had heard him, naturally. As soon as the door closed it was as if Avery was closed off from the existence of others. His heart was getting back to normal. He still felt a bit too hot but he was cooling down. He ran his hands under the cold water. When it was cold enough he brought them up to my face. The cold shocked him for a second but it did clear his mind up a bit. He couldn't imagine what he had looked like to them. He looked in the mirror, call him vapid all you want but he didn’t care. As soon as he saw myself all materialist thoughts faded away. His reflection in the mirror was cloudy, he was surrounded by the damn swirling lights. His lights were a pale pink hue. Seriously what the hell is wrong with him? Maybe the thing they were going to hunt down was already hunting them back. Maybe he was going crazy, sexually crazy. Was that a thing? Either way, he needed to figure it out. He stood there looking at his reflection breathing deep for a few more minutes until he felt better. His breathing was back to normal. The fit of his jeans was back to normal. He knew he had to go back outside and make sure Mike knew he was okay. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Mike was at the register talking to Brooks. They both turned to look at him, they both seemed concerned. After a smile and a wave from Avery they both seemed to relax a bit. The swirling lights around them had faded to slight discolorations in the air. Everything seemed to be going back to normal. Everything but Avery of course.

"What happened?" Mike asked walking up to him. She placed her hand on his bicep and squeezed lightly. Avery wasn't sure if she was acting or genuinely showing affection towards him. Avery saw the look on Brooks's face, it was clearly annoyance. He was jealous. He was jealous of Mike, Avery’s fake girlfriend. Avery couldn’t understand why, the two had just met, there was no reason for Brooks to be jealous.

"Just a little light headed." Avery smiled. He started moving towards the register slowly. "I think I just need some fresh air." Mike nodded up at him.

"I'll just pay for our things and we can get going." 

"Thanks for this, Brooks." He put the keys on the counter in front of Brooks. He pulled his hand away quickly, he couldn't risk having their hands touch again. Brooks’s eyes were steady on Avery as the younger man walked out of the small store. 

"The lilies look very pretty on you." He said when Avery reached the door. Avery reached into his hair, he had forgotten about the flowers Mike had put there. 

"Thank you." Avery blushed, he couldn't help but blush. He called Roz as soon as he was outside. She already had the SUV back and was on her way over to pick the two of them up. She and Rei had not found any new information on their end of town. The four hunters had pretty much wasted the day getting to know each other. Avery sat on the curb and waited for Mike to come out of the convenience store. She joined him a minute later with bottled water and a couple of chicken salad croissants. "Roz and Rei didn't find any new info." He bit into the sandwich, it wasn't amazing but it was good enough. 

"Well your boyfriend in there did say something." She said opening her water. 

"Boyfriend, really?" He asked glaring at her. 

"He was totally into you." She laughed. "You pretty much had him under a spell."

"That's not true."

"The lilies look very pretty on you." She imitated Brooks's deep voice. "I've never heard a man say that to another man who was a complete stranger." She bit into her sandwich. "He was watching you the whole time."

"No he wasn't." Damn, Avery was hoping he was the only one who noticed Brooks’s constant stare.

"And you checked his ass out when he bent to get the keys for you." She continued. He made a scoffing sound, but he had no real comeback or defense statement for that. He had really hoped nobody noticed when he had done that. He pushed the image of Brooks bending down out of his mind. This day was just getting better and better.

"Wait," His mind went back to what he had ignored in the first place. "He actually said something about the hunt?" She nodded. 

"Turns out another couple came by asking questions yesterday or something." She pointed down the road to a familiar SUV, Roz was finally there. "He also said that there has been a lot more deaths than the ones we know about, like a lot." She stood and wiped her skirt from any dirt that had been where she sat. Avery did the same. He could see Brooks through the store window still looking at him, Brooks smiled and waved. 

"C'mon Avery." Mike said pulling him away towards where Roz had parked. Avery smiled back at Brooks before turning to the SUV. Avery had a lot of issues to deal with at the moment, his attraction to the handsome blonde was at the bottom of that list. 

 

The four headed back to the motel for a few hours before they headed out for dinner. Avery had had enough of dealing with people for the day. He looked forward to just sitting in quiet for some time. Turns out his sister had a different idea. She and Rei had bought a deck of cards and apparently they were all going to play. She tried to teach the other three how to play poker, unfortunately nobody but she found it fun. So they decided to switch to go fish like a bunch of kids. It was nice, Avery even noticed Rei and Roz acting a little closer than he’d seen them act before. 

"We got a lot of compliments today." Mike said in the middle of dealing the next game. "We make a very cute couple." She made a kissy face at Avery which he returned smiling. 

"Yeah?" Rei asked looking between them. "The flowers sure are cute." Avery had forgotten about the flowers again. He smiled and turned to show them his lilies.

"You're just mad that I'm the pretty one here." Avery mocked. "These flowers make me even prettier." Roz plucked one of his flowers and put it behind her ear. 

"Speaking of pretty," Mike interrupted. "Avery and I found that there has been more killings that we originally anticipated." 

"More?" Rei leaned in. "how many more?" Mike shrugged. 

"That was all Brooks knew." Avery said. Brooks, he was hoping to not think about him.

"Brooks?" Rei asked. 

"The guy working the register at the convenience store you picked us up at." Mike responded. "Maybe if we send Avery in again he can flirt more information out of him." She nudged him playfully. 

"Please don't" Avery whispered to her. If she told them about Brooks, then she might tell them about the way he had acted while they were there. He didn't want to add anything more to Roz's mind. She was always taking care of him. He didn't want her to worry about this on top of the hunt. If anyone else found out about this, they might use it against him. 

"He was hitting on Avery is all." She waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure it was the only reason he told us anything." She looked me over as if to ask if that was alright. Avery nodded slightly thanking her silently. 

"How was that?" Roz asked wiggling her eyebrows at her little brother.

"Like I said the flowers make me even prettier." She didn't push her brother for more, thank god. The group continued to play as if the subject had not been brought up. It only lasted a few minutes before the next distraction came up. The damn ringing. The ringing came back. Same as last time, soft at first but it built up on itself. It was the song again. It repeated over and over, still unrecognizable to him. It was going to drive him crazy. It was worse that he was clearly the only one hearing it. He kept watching the other's faces to see if they reacted to anything but they never did. He kept losing each round of the game. It was no wonder since he was trying to focus on two different things. Seriously what the hell was going on? Mood swings, hearing sounds, seeing colorful lights, symptoms of anxiety. The more he thought about it, the more the song seemed to clear up. He could hear individual notes but not a clear melody. He had to get this under control. This all started after the hunt in Milwaukee. Maybe when that ghoul had slashed at him. He was going to have to research that later, discreetly. That is if the ringing left him any sanity. "I'll be right back." He needed some fresh air. He’d been needing a lot of that lately. Outside the ringing didn't get any softer, in fact it got louder. He sat on the steps trying to ignore it, which was proving to be really hard. After a few minutes he just decided to give into it. It was calming honestly, not having to try and hide that he could hear it. He sat with his eyes closed just listening, it was still not clearing up. 

 

"Alright let's go." Roz said patting his head. He opened his eyes looking up at her confused. 

"But we still got like an hour left." He looked down at his watch, it was 5:30PM. "What the hell?" How is it already..."

"Ave, you've been out here for like an hour." Roz said holding her hand out for him to take. He had missed an hour, it felt like a minute. The melody he heard didn't even repeat. Maybe it was a clue to what they were hunting. 

"Does anybody hear that music?" He asked. The others listened for a second before they shook their heads. Okay so it was official, he was the only one. He shrugged-mostly for their sake-and headed to the SUV hoping none of them would ask any questions. Blackouts, one more thing to add to the damn list of crap he was dealing with. The restaurant they went to was not far away from the hotel, they could have actually walked there. It was nice, a little fancy for how they were dressed. Mike wrapped her arm around his as soon as the group stepped out of the car. Fake relationship mode was back on. They followed Rei who lead Roz into the restaurant with his arm around her waist. The restaurant was calm and soothing. A few people looked over at them as they walked towards the hostess, the people there seemed like regulars. Maybe it was that clear that the four were not from there. The hostess sat them in a corner booth near the back. Avery let Mike in first and sat near the end. They spent most of the time talking about the others in the "Royal" families. Mike and Rei considered themselves lucky that they resided in Asia and most of others resided in the America's. They told Roz and Avery about another family from India that was the equivalent of what the Battaligna's were to the Bishops. Maja Patil was apparently Mike's arch nemesis. Her brother Hari was the bane of Rei's existence. 

"Good to know we aren't the only ones with petty childhood adversaries." Roz laughed. "I was honestly starting to think that we were getting a little old for this feud with the Battaligna's." 

"You're never too old to have mortal enemies." Rei said kissing Roz's forehead. That was weird. Avery raised an eye brow at Roz, she would usually share something like this. He had shared the thing with Flo with her. But then again he had kind of been hiding the whole attraction to men from her. He felt Mike nudge him under the table. She pointed to the bar a few yards away from them. Brooks was there. He turned to Mike with his best “don't even start” face.

"Who's that?" Roz asked looking in Brook's direction. Of course she saw that. 

"Nobody." Avery said turning his back toward Brooks. 

"Well Mr. Nobody is looking right at you." Rei added. He looked back at Brooks, he was staring again, intensely. The waiter appeared a second later with a tray of drinks. He put the first drink down in front of Avery.

"The tall blonde man over at the bar wanted to send this to you and your friends." The waiter smiled and set the rest of the drinks in front of the others. Avery wasn’t much of a drinker so he was not sure what was in it.

"Thanks." He said taking the drink and sipping from it. It was cherry vodka with some sort of lime soft drink mix.

"You should invite him over." Roz suggested drinking from hers.

"Shut up Roz." He whispered.

"What? He sent us drinks the least we could do is invite him over and say thank you." She looked at Rei, he seemed to agree. 

"Of course you agree with her," Avery snapped standing up with his drink still in hand. "Since you're apparently on kissing terms now." Roz straightened up, she had been leaning into Rei's side the whole dinner. "Excuse me." He turned and walked over to Brooks. 

"Hi." Brooks said standing up straight as Avery approached. He was wearing a very form fitting Henley. He definitely had the muscles for it. 

Don't think about that right now idiot. You can't afford to spaz out like at the convenience store.

"Brooks," Avery smiled leaning against the bar. His palms were already sweaty. This guy had a weird hold on him. "Three times in one day," He laughed shyly. "Starting to think you're following me." Good Avery, good make small talk as if this is just any person.

"To be fair the second time you and your friend came into my place of work." He motioned to Mike.

"Girlfriend." Avery said almost too loud. "She's my girlfriend." He tried controlling his voice. Brooks nodded, clearly not believing him. “Mike and I made a cute couple! The old ladies said so! Get back on track Ave!” He thought to himself. "Anyways, my friends and girlfriend and I" He emphasized the girlfriend part. "Would like to invite you over as a thanks for the drinks." Brooks looked over at the table then at Avery. He lifted his drink towards them.

"Sure."

"Great." Avery responded turning on his heels. "This will be great." He whispered to himself. This could end up going in any direction, and he wasn't sure which direction would be the least terrifying for him. Mike moved over closer to Roz so that there was space for the two men to sit. Avery went in first and let Brooks sit on the outside. "Brooks, everybody." Avery motioned to the table. "Everybody, Brooks." 

"Hi." Brooks put on a charming smile. He put his arm on the back of the seat, which meant he basically had his arm around Avery. Avery wasn’t used to having someone’s arm around him like that. Well not since he was little and would watch television with his father. "These two tell me you're thinking about camping." Brooks asked Roz and Rei. They nodded. Avery leaned forward slightly.

"We've been planning this trip for a few months now." Roz lied. "We wanted to camp for a few days before we go to California." 

"What's in California?" He turned his attention to Avery. This man was acting too comfortable for Avery’s liking.

"Friends." Mike cut in quickly. "In L.A., long time childhood friends." 

"Been so long since I've been out camping." Brooks said his attention still on Avery. Oh no. Those feelings were coming back. Not even when Avery was a teenager going through puberty did he have a problem with uncomfortable arousal at inappropriate times. "Are you okay?" The older man asked him quietly, he had a slight smile on his face, he knew what he was doing to the younger male.

"I'm fine." Avery answered trying his best not to look at the handsome blonde. He hoped that if he didn't see Brooks directly then maybe he could focus. Focus, focus, focus. He smelled nice. Dammit Avery, get it together. Still he did smell nice. Avery didn't recognize what cologne it was but it was unmistakable. Hints of vanilla and sandalwood was all he could single out.

"Have you always lived here?" Roz's voice cut through the fog in her brother’s mind. 

"Just for a few years." Brooks answered. "I'm from northern California." He really needed to stop talking, it was making Avery feel things, things he didn't want to feel. Mike put her hand over Avery’s, silently asking if he was going to be okay. Avery could tell he was starting to act like he had acted back at the convenience store a few hours prior. 

"You're breathing really heavily." Roz said moving away from Rei for the first time. "Are you okay?" Avery could feel heat radiating from Brooks arm, it was comforting in a way but it was putting him on edge. 

"Just feeling a little claustrophobic." Avery responded taking a deep breath. Brooks leaned away from him slightly, maybe he caught a hint. "I think,” Avery stammered. “I think I'm going to step outside for a second." He turned to Brooks waiting until the blonde let him out of the booth. Walking towards the door felt like it took forever. He didn't want to leave them, Brooks in particular. Being so close to him made Avery feel good and safe. Even if it sent his heart into overdrive. It was a very conflicting train of thought. The air outside was nice and cool. A small breeze helped clear the young man’s brain. He leaned against Roz's SUV taking deep breaths. He let the cold of the metal travel through his body. "Get your shit together Ave." He muttered. A black SUV drove by fast and headed toward the highway. Avery had to jump back slightly to avoid gravel from hitting him.

"That was the couple that asked about camping before you and your friend." Brooks’s voice startled him. 

"Jesus," Avery turned quickly towards him. "She's my girlfriend!” He reminded. Brooks lifted his hands up in defeat smiling. “What couple?" Avery asked looked down towards the speeding SUV.

Brooks pointed towards the highway. "That other couple that asked about the killing in the woods." The vehicle was too far away for Avery to even try to look at it.

"What are you doing out here?" Avery asked switching his attention to Brooks. He took a step back. He needed to keep space between them. 

"Making sure you're okay." He reached for a strand of hair on Avery’s forehead but Avery leaned back and put it back in place himself. "You seem to need fresh air a lot." He kept moving forward.

"I have social anxiety." Avery admitted, that wasn’t a complete lie. "Sometimes being too close to people I don't know makes me freak out."

"I know you're lying." He smiled looking down at Avery’s hands, The younger male was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "Do you not like me?" Brooks asked.

"My girlfriend wouldn't like this." Avery said he needed to get out of there before he started seeing dancing lights again. 

"Why are you lying about being with her?" Brooks asked softly. He took Avery’s hand in his and pulled him closer. Don't give in Avery, do not give in. Avery didn’t respond with anything, the more he said the worse things got for him. "You're very handsome Avery." He said looking over the hunter’s face. Many people had complemented Avery’s looks, but this was different. It didn't feel like when his mom would tell him he was handsome, she kind of had to say that. 

"Thank you." Avery said taking in the way Brooks hands felt on his. They were warm, a little rough but nice over all. Being with him was calming. Wait did he say his name? 

"What's that look?" He asked when he saw Avery narrow his eyes at him.

"How do you know my name?" The hunter asked, he should have pulled his hands away but this was the calmest he had been in the past few days. Including the hour he had apparently blacked out for. 

"I overheard your..." He paused and smiled. "Girlfriend, say it." He over emphasized the word girlfriend. Avery wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. "She said it out loud at the store earlier." He continued. That could be true, Avery didn't remember much of it but she might have said it when he was seeing lights. Regardless he and the others had made a rule to not stay too long around anyone who found out their names.

"I should go back inside with the others." Avery said taking his hands away and turning. Brooks pulled him back towards him. He wasn’t rough about it, Avery could have broken out of his hold if he had tried. But he didn’t.

"Stay." His voice was soft, he knew exactly how to pull the younger man in. "Please." His voice sounded genuine.

"I don't know, I should really..." Next thing he knew Brooks’s lips were on his. He had to hold back a laugh when their teeth made a light clanging sound. The kiss was nice, soft, and...wrong! What about Flo? He had spent the entire night with her and they didn't kiss. Now he was here in some parking letting Brooks kiss him. He had always assumed he would be the one to initiate any first kiss. But then again he never anticipated he’d be wanting to kiss another guy. He pulled away wiping the back of his hand on his lips. "I shouldn't do this." He told the older man. Brooks stepped in again and kissed him again. This kiss lasted longer than the last. Avery felt Brooks wrap his arm around him. His other hand traveled up to Avery’s neck and stopped at his jaw holding his face close to his own. Avery wanted to wrap my arms around him too but the thought of Flo stopped him. He pulled away looking a little dazed. Brooks gave him a goofy smile and blushed. It made Avery feel good to know he had the same effect on the older man. "Brooks I'm sorry." Avery pulled away from the arm Brooks still had wrapped around his back. "But I do have someone." His goofy smile faded into confusion. "It might not be her." Avery motioned to the restaurant, specifically to Mike inside. "But I have someone back home, and we might have something." Pain flashed through Brooks’s face but he masked it almost immediately with a calm visage. "I'm sorry." Avery repeated. He didn’t like the pain the other’s face but he needed to cut things off right then and there.

"You can't tell me you are not crazy about me!" Brooks followed after Avery as he walked towards the door. Avery didn't answer him and kept walking. "I'm not saying its love at first sight or some shit but you know there is something here." The older man half ran and moved in front of Avery to stop him from moving forward. "I haven't stopped thinking about you since we saw each other this morning." He reached for the other’s hand but Avery put it in his jean pocket to stop him. "I've never felt like this for someone after one day." In all honestly neither had Avery but he wasn't going to let him know that. 

"Is everything okay?" It was Roz, thank god. She walked towards the two men slowly, apparently she had not mastered the hooker heels on gravel technique yet. She wasn’t focused on her heels, she was focused on the palpable tension between the two.

"I'm fine." Avery said turning to her. "I was just heading back inside." He walked to her and took her hand to give her some balance. She looked between her brother and Brooks. "Brooks was just about to leave." Avery looked at him, he looked hurt. He really didn't like that look on him, but he knew had to keep going. "He was just saying goodbye." Avery turned back and led his sister along the gravel. By the time the two had reached the door Brooks was gone. It didn't feel good to reject him but Avery had to. The hunters couldn't afford to involve any people outside of hunters. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked when he held the door open for her. He nodded smiling. She shook her head. Her brother’s smile wasn't convincing enough. 

"Just a little tired." He lied. She seemed to believe that. "Do you mind if I bail on this?" He pointed to the table where Mike and Rei still sat. "I think I'm just gonna go back to the motel and rest." She thought for a second and nodded.

"I can drive you back." She began searching through her clutch for her keys.

"No, it's just a few blocks away, I'll be fine." He turned to head back to the motel before she could react. 

"Call me when you get there." She ordered. He nodded and saluted her mockingly as he walked. He needed to be alone. Turning Brooks away got him down. Not to mention the fact that he was kissing a guy behind Flo's back. He was aware that Flo and he weren't really together or anything but things could lead to something. As unattainable as both people were to him, she was the better choice. 

The motel parking lot was full when he got there. He took the stairs two at a time already feeling the comfort the bed would give him. He forced all of the thoughts of how dirty the bed might be to the back of his head. Luckily he could not hear the ringing. Good, he just wanted to sleep. He felt drained, emotionally, physically, and mentally. He couldn't wait until this hunt was over so he could go see a doctor and figure out what was wrong with him. He slept through the whole night, it didn't feel like he had. Before he knew it Roz was smacking his butt to wake me up. He looked at his watch, it was 5:00AM. He had slept for ten hours. He hadn't even heard the others get back to the motel. 

The four hunters packed their things and prepared for the day. They were ready to head out by 5:30 all they had to do was return the keys to their rooms. The office for the motel was small. It was owned by an elderly woman, it was decorated wall to wall in floral items. It was a cute contrast to how dingy the rest of the building looked. The ringing came back. It was really loud this time. Avery almost couldn't hear the woman when she spoke to him. He tried to focus on her but the ringing sounded like it was literally in front of him. Then he saw it. A small music box. It sat on the shelf behind the woman's desk. 

"Can I see that?" He asked pointing to it. "Please." He added remembering his manners. She smiled and handed it to him. How could this tiny music box be so loud? The melody was crystal clear now. He hadn't realized he had begun to sing along to it. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine." The old lady looked up at him in shock. "My make happy..." 

"How did you know that that is the song it played?" She looked at the box in confusion. 

"It's playing," Avery laughed. "Really loudly." She shook her head laughing.

"Sweetie that music box hasn't worked in almost ten years." That made no sense, it was playing right at that moment. How the hell? 

"Can I buy this from you?" He asked. He didn’t know why, but he had to have the music box.

"Honey, it doesn't work." She said slowly as if he was a child. She looked over his face, he was intently looking at the small box. Roz honked from outside. He turned and held his hand up asking for one more minute.

"Please," He turned back to the woman. "I want to try to fix it." A lie but whatever.

"It's broken." She said dismissively. "Just take it." She waved a hand at him and turned to hang the keys back on their hangers.

"Thank you!" He said looking over the box. This box had haunted him all day, and now that he held it, it seemed to soothe him in a way. He exited the building and joined the others in the SUV. Finally they could get this hunt started.


	8. Footprints

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunters leave for the woods and prepare to find whatever is killing people. What they find there is not what they were hoping for.

Chapter 8: Footprints  
The group arrived at the edge of the forest around 7:00AM. Nobody had really spoken the whole way there. Maybe the fact that we were finally doing this was hitting them. Avery was quiet because he had spent the entire car ride taking the stupid music box apart. He needed to see the inside. He don't know why but the only part of the box that mattered to him was the cylinder and metal comb. The instrument itself was small, it fit in his pocket. Physically touching the metal sent a wave of serenity through him. He was obsessed with this thing. To be honest he was obsessed with a lot of things lately. Or at least he felt strongly about a lot of things lately. 

It took them several minutes to decide who would carry what. They couldn't believe that they had not thought that through even in the slightest before that moment. Avery had just figured each would carry his or her own things but the girls had different ideas. Considering that tents are just small aluminum tubes and a piece of fabric they sure were heavy as hell. Good thing Avery had only bought two instead of the four he was originally planning to get. Walking through the forest was not as easy as the group had assumed. Mike had already slipped a few times. Lucky for her Avery was there to catch her the first two times, he went down with her the third time. Usually hiking wouldn't be a problem, but the forest floor was not very forgiving. Roots and branches lay all over the place soft mud anywhere in between. They may have been trained warriors who were supposed to be able to handle almost anything but a fall is a fall. It would be pathetic to hurt themselves before they found out what they were dealing with. Rei had chosen the paths that were least taken and in some cases there was no path at all. He had suspected that they were more like to find prints and scratches on the trees in the less walked through areas. If this thing was smart it would make sure to stay away from crowded areas. The fact that they only knew about some of its kills meant they were most likely slip ups in its usual attacks, or this thing was getting desperate, the hunters didn't know which was worse. Roz led the way with Rei giving her directions. Mike and Avery stayed behind and double checked for anything they may have missed as far as clues. A couple of hours later and few more slips and bruises later Roz called for them to stop and eat. They needed to keep their strength and energy up. She took breaks here and there where she would pass around energy bars to keep them all going but now she wanted to rest for a bit. Avery shed his backpack immediately and sat down on a fallen tree trunk. His back was feeling tight and hot. He could feel the sweat clinging to his clothing. The forest was cool, but their backpacks were not very breathable. Roz plopped down next to him clearly getting tired herself. 

"What time is it?" Her brother asked stretching his legs. He winced at the slight discomfort from how tight his calves felt but it dissipated shortly after. 

"11:35." She showed him her watch. He had not realized they were four hours into the forest. They had been so focused on finding prints and scratches (also not falling) that time flew by. Mike had cleared a small circle in the ground for a fire. She and Rei gathered twigs and wood while Roz and Avery gathered rocks to contain it. He hoped the fire would work since they were really just following the instructions of some video they had found online the day before during Avery’s apparent blackout. They put the logs into the shape of a tee pee, the video said it was the best for cooking. It took them a few minutes but managed to do it anyways. Avery just sat back listening to them bicker about not doing what the video instructed. They were the next generation of hunters, human's first line of defense against the supernatural, hear them roar...at each other because a fire was too hard to start. Avery heard a twig snap from behind him. He reached for one of his throwing knives and shushed the others. They all stood quietly waiting for something to appear, most likely an animal but they could never know. They heard a small rustling followed by laughter. 

"Help me, my foot is stuck in the mud!" One voice laughed.

"Hold on if I step in the wrong place we'll both be stuck." It sounded like two guys were struggling with the hike just like they had. The group listened for a few more seconds in quiet. "Damn I'm covered in mud now." The second voice complained. "I hope I don't get a rash." Avery covered his mouth to stop from laughing. 

"Let's see if they're okay." Roz said pulling on his sleeve. He followed the voices to see what was going on. The two siblings held on to each other when they came to a somewhat steep area. The hill was not muddy which helped but if either of them fell it meant they would tumble down two yards of so. Climbing back up was going to be bitch. A few yards ahead of them sat two men wiping mud from their hands and clothes. "Is everything okay?" Roz called out. They seemed startled by her voice as if they thought they were alone in the woods. 

"You sounded like you were in trouble." Avery waved at them. One of them waved back smiling.

"I just fell in the mud." He laughed showing the hunters his pants. 

"You're not hurt are you?" Roz asked moving towards them. He shook his head.

"Just my pride." Avery wondered how long they had been camping. Aside from the obvious mud stains they didn't look too fresh. Their hair was dirty, they had sweat stains showing through their clothing. It looked like they had been in the woods a few days. 

"We are running low one water, do you guys have any you can spare?" The second man asked. He looked like a blond but his hair was so dirty the siblings couldn’t be sure. 

"We have a fire and our supplies just over his hill," Roz pointed behind them to the steep hill. "We stopped for lunch, you're welcome to join us." What was with Roz and inviting everybody to join them? First Brooks now these two. Brooks. Damn, and here he had managed to go almost six hours without thinking of his stupid handsome face. 

"You don't mind do you?" The first man asked, it sounded like it was geared towards Avery. They must have seen the sour face he made when he thought of Brooks. 

He switched his facial expression to a smile. "Please." He and Roz reached them without falling. "I'm sure our friends won't mind either." 

"We just need to rest a bit and then we will head back out of the woods." The blonde said. "I'm Noah." He motioned to his friend. "That's Logan." Avery looked at Roz, what were they going to tell them their names were. It was a miracle that they had made it this far without having to use names. Nobody had introduced themselves directly until now. 

"I'm Roz." She answered. Avery guessed that settled that train of thought. "This is Avery." She pointed to him, he just nodded. "Come on let’s get out of all of this mud." They headed back to the steep hill. Avery hoisted Roz up first and helped her get to the top. 

"Who's going up first?" Avery asked the two men. Logan stepped forward. 

"What do I need to do?" He asked. 

"Just keep your legs straight and reach for her hand." The hunter explained and knelt down so he could lift his leg. Avery used used legs to lift him up, he didn't need to lift him completely, the hill was sloped enough that he could essentially crawl his way up. Roz and Mike were waiting at the top for him. Avery had to wipe his hands on a nearby tree to get all of the mud off of them.

"Strong boy." Noah said impressed. 

"I didn't really have to lift him." Avery explained. "I pretty much just helped him crawl."

"Still." Noah responded. Avery got the feeling Noah was flirting with him. He had no idea how he felt about that. His attention definitely didn't make Avey feel like Brooks's or Flo's. 

"Noah, leave him alone." Logan said from the top. Noah just laughed to himself and shrugged. 

"Ready?" Avery asked kneeling again. Noah nodded looking to the top of the hill. "Okay." He lifted his legs and Avery pushed him up. The others helped him up. Avery was left alone at the bottom. He looked around for something to use to climb the first few feet of the hill. 

"Just jump and we can catch you." Mike said. "Get a head start." He took some steps back and counted to three, they all needed to be prepared or he would be the one with his ass in the mud. He ran and jumped right before he reached the hill. He used his momentum planting his foot on the hill and pushing himself up. It was just enough for the girls to catch his hands before gravity pulled him down again. They pulled back as he took steps forward until he reached the edge letting himself fall unto the top. 

"Strong girls." Noah said just as impressed as he had been with Avery.

"Are you guys like soldiers or something?" Logan asked. "Regular people would be like wiped out from doing that." Roz helped her brother up laughing. 

"We just work out a lot." She pointed to the fire. "C'mon let get you guys some water."

"Thank god," Noah said in relief. "We haven't drank anything since yesterday."

"How long have you been out here?" Mike asked. She opened one of the bags and took out a large bottle of water. She poured two glasses and handed them over. 

"Umm...two and a half days." He responded. "We were only planning on one and a half but someone can't read maps." He nudged Logan in the ribs. "We went the wrong way for half a day." Logan rolled his eyes. 

"I'm never going to hear the end of this." He sighed. "It was your idea to come anyways. You're obsessed with those killings."

"Wait you're here because of the killings?" Avery asked. If they were there then maybe they knew more information. They managed to not get killed by whatever was out there.

"Yeah,” Noah answered excitedly digging for something in his bag. It was almost empty, they'd gone through all of their food. "I work at the historical society in Boulder." He pulled out a bag filled with clippings from old newspapers. "See the killings going on right now have happened before." He handed Avery the bag. It was heavier than he had expected. He pulled out one of the clippings. It was from 1985, the headlines was similar to the ones he had seen from the recent kills. The cops blamed animal attacks then too. "It's seems to happen every thirty years or so." He pulled out a map from his back pocket. "But the things is that it seems to rotate from different places in North America, see." The map was covered in circles and numbers in different wooded areas from Mexico to Canada. 

"It follows a pattern." Logan pointed to a spot in Canada. "It started here then moved down here after a year or so." He pointed to the next circled spot near the great lakes. "And so on and on"

"Some of these places have killings going back to before the 1900's." Noah spoke again. "It's just that different areas blame different animals for the attacks so it’s hard to connect them to the same thing." 

"That's probably how the pattern managed to slide under the radar." Roz said. Logan looked at the hunters as if expecting them to laugh at him but they were all focused intently on his story. He had managed to find more information than they had.  
We have to go to historical society building more often. Avery thought to himself.

"How did you find all of this?" Rei asked looking over the clippings.

"Not a lot of people visit the historical society, I came across some of the stuff like two years ago. It took a while to connect some of the dots but the killings started again so I had to check it out." He was really excited to have found people interested in his theory. "I mean sometimes even I questioned the things I found. I thought I was reaching too far to find things but it all makes sense."

"It was almost like it was being kept hidden." Roz said. "We looked and looked and found nothing."

"It was being kept hidden." Noah said. "Cops couldn't figure out what was going on and blamed the animals but these killings were too brutal for an animal to do it."

"Did you find anything while in the woods?" Avery asked. If he said yes Avery was going to be so pissed. He just shook his head. Good. If they didn't find anything they might be able to make it home alive. The less people know the truth the better. Most people think that they can handle knowing about the supernatural world, but there is a reason why they say ignorance is bliss. Some of these things feed off of people's fear. If you know there is something outside your door you'll be scared of it regardless of whether it can get in or not. That's all some of these things need to get the upper hand on a person. 

"All we saw was scratches on the bottom of trees about a mile south of here." Logan said. That meant that they were close to the hunting area. If they were in this things hunting area why had it not attack them. Could it have migrated to its next area? Avery reopened the map he had showed them and looked for the next area in its hunting pattern. It was a forest in Mexico. 

"We couldn't stay long since I had to get back to work." Noah said putting his drink down. "But then we got lost, we need to go and make sure they know that we are okay." 

"Its going to be another few hours." Mike said getting up and rummaging through Rei's bag. "Here take some of our stuff." She handed them some more water and granola and fruit bars. She was right, they would need energy to keep going and hopefully leaving the forest before sunset. The two men looked at each other not sure if they should accept it or not. They understood how important the supplies were.

"Don't worry we have more than enough stuff to last us about a week if need be." Rei said taking the food and putting it in their bag. 

"Thank you." Logan said, a sigh of relief escaping his body. It was clear they didn't want to show the four hunters that they were hungry and tired but they had been walking all day with no food or water they needed this. Both groups spent a few more minutes speaking before Roz decided that they should keep moving. The hunters directed the pair towards the nearest road, in turn they directed the hunters towards the creature's hunting grounds. Both groups continued forward with new zest. The new information helped the hunters narrow down what they could be dealing with but there was still many things that it could be. They continued for about another hour when Roz force fed them more granola bars. Mike pointed to a set of foot prints she didn't recognize. She had discreetly looked at the tracks that Logan and Noah left and they weren't a match. This meant that there was other campers around. This could be bad, if this things finds them before the hunters did. They continued to follow the tracks hoping that they had chosen to stop and camp nearby. If they did then they could befriend them camp by and protect them if the thing attacked. Avery knew that if they protected them then they would be exposed to the supernatural world but it was better than death. The tracks disappeared when we reached a clearing in the middle of some large trees. It was hard to tell which way they'd gone since the muddy area transitioned into dry dirt and gravel. Avery looked to Roz for directions, she had become the unofficial leader on the hunt. She was just as confused as the rest of them. Avery caught a scent in the air when a slight breeze blew by him. Sandalwood. It smelled like Brooks's cologne. 

Stop thinking about him. Stop wishfully thinking about him. 

Still just the reminder of him was making Avery feel ways he was pretty sure we're very inappropriate for this situation. He took several deep breath and turned away from the others. He saw a figure duck into the bushes about a hundred yards away. It could have been anything. A person, an animal, that thing they were after. But considering they had not seen even a squirrel in the last six hour he scratched animal off of the possibilities. He put his right hand behind his back and snapped his fingers three times. It was the signal that Roz and he used to let the other know that they were not alone. She snapped back three times herself to let him know she got the message. He heard her whisper to the others. He snapped three more times, this time to let her know he didn't know if their visitor was good or bad. One snap was good, two was bad, three was "I don't know." She relayed this info to the others too. If this thing was bad then it would notice if the group stopped moving and figure out they were aware of it. They had to play dumb until they were sure of its intentions.

"Guess this place is as good as any." Roz said taking her back pack off. "Let's set up camp." The others all did the same. They opened their bags and began to take things out. They each had weapons in their bags that they could use if ambushed. The element of surprise worked great when it came to hunting. The thing in the distance was not making its move. Avery had set up quite a bit of their camping supplies maybe it was trying to give them a false sense of safety by making them think it had left the area. The thought of Brooks was still lingering in Avery’s head. It was as if he was being projected into his mind. A lot of things lately felt as if they were projected into him. Feelings mostly. Maybe that was how this thing got its prey. It crippled them emotionally then killed them. Avery had never heard of anything that does both of those things. It was usually one or the other. Then it hit him again. Anger. He could feel his skin get hot, his breathing getting heavy. Anger was washing over him like a heatwave. He had no idea where it was coming from. He stumbled forward falling to his knees. Things were getting blurry. No not now. Not in front of Roz.

"Ave what's wrong?" As she spoke he could feel her concern hit him. It fought with the anger over which emotion would force itself unto him. They heard a snap from behind them. Was this it? Was this the attack they were waiting for? Mike was the first to respond and threw one of her stars on instinct. It hurled into a bush slashing through the leaves, they didn't slow it down one bit. She had a strong arm. They heard a grunt. She got it, whatever it was, she had hit it. Roz drew her gun and aimed it in the direction of the noise. They heard more rustling and two figures appeared running at them. It was people. Not just people. It was Max Battaligna with Anna Felkent a few steps behind him. 

"Wait!" Rei shouted getting in the middle. Roz put her gun down immediately. What were they doing here? Max and Anna stopped just a few feet from Rei. They looked as stunned as the other four hunters did. Kit came up a few seconds later holding his side. He held Mike's throwing star in his other hand. Avery looked at Roz, maybe she had called them here, but why didn't she tell him about it?

"What the hell are you doing out here Battaligna?" She barked at them, Max in particular. Okay maybe she didn't ask them to come. She walked right past Anna to Max. Kit seemed pissed that she ignored him. Her face softened a bit when she saw the gash in his side from the star. "Are you okay?" She asked looking at the blood on his hand. He nodded.

"It just cut skin nothing serious." He handed the star back to Mike. He looked at her as if expecting an apology but in Avery’s opinion he didn't deserve one. What did he expect coming up behind them like that? 

It took Avery only a few second to realize that they weren't carrying much. Their bags were small, like really small. They came out here half assed trying to prove some macho bullshit. Avery had a bad feeling that them being here would bring nothing but trouble for all of them.


	9. Viburnum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the two groups of hunters decide to band together. Things go south pretty quickly.

Chapter 9: Viburnum 

"Is that honestly all you guys packed for a hunt?" Avery asked angrily storming towards them. The wave of concern Roz had sent his way dissipated but the anger was still there, and now it had found a target, Kit. "What are you stupid?" He pulled on his bag roughly causing Kit to stumble to the side. He pulled away with a frown on his face. 

"Don't lecture me like you know anything more than I do." He snapped back.

"But there is nothing in your bags?" Mike said looking into Anna's pack. 

"You're six hours away from the nearest city, did you honestly think you weren't going to need food and water?" Avery continued battering him with questions. The anger was taking over him. The dancing lights were swirling around. It was mostly red. Bright red. They were pretty scattered now but he knew they would probably get stronger. "You're not supposed to be out here in the first place!" 

"This is our hunt!" Kit spat back. He tried to stand face to face which was hard when he was a full five inches shorter than Avery. 

"Oh my god!" Avery yelled back at him. "Why are you still acting like we are children competing for ranking rights?!" His family's pissing match over claim of the western U.S. was getting old. "We competed for this hunt and you lost!" He reminded Kit loudly. "This isn't some school assignment for a grade this is real life!" He pulled his pack off of him and handed it to Rei. Kit flinched when the strap pulled on his shoulder. He was still wounded from the competition. "There is a real monster out there killing people and all you care about is your ranking!" Avery cared about his too but Jesus this kid was obsessed. 

"Don't lecture me like I'm a child Bishops!" He said. The others just stood around watching the two yelling back and forth.

"I'll stop when you stop acting like one. You are not even remotely prepared to survive a simple hike and you're trying to go after this thing to kill it." He motioned to his bag still in Mike's hands. "You have no food, water, sleeping bags, or even back up weapons."

"You can't just shoot every supernatural creature." Rei said softly from behind them. "Some of them need very specific things to kill them."

"Thank you." Avery said appreciating his back up. 

"Why do you care?" He yelled reaching for his bag. Avery snatched it away from Mike before he reached it.

"Because you could have gotten yourselves killed!" His voice seemed to carry throughout the trees. Everyone was left in silence. "As much as I hate you for making my life hell, I don't want to see you die." Kit was taken back by that. Clearly he didn't feel the same way towards Avery. 

"You won’t." He said, his voice back to normal. He took the bag from Avery’s hand and put it back on. He turned to leave.

"You're not going anywhere." Roz said looking at his wound. "At least not until we bandage you up. She took hold of his arm and pulled him towards Mike's bag where we kept all of their medical supplies. The others all stood watching her clean her hands thoroughly with wet wipes. It was important to keep everything as clean as possible to prevent infection especially out in the woods.

"Even then." Avery said breaking the silence. "You're not going anywhere." Kit looked up at him confused. "We have extra food, water, and general supplies, you're part of our group now." He said the last part like he was trying to hold back vomit.

"No we aren't," Max began. Avery didn't care for his tone of voice. The anger was building again. 

"Do your parents know you're here?" Avery asked. Neither responded. Max looked away playing dumb. "What about yours Anna?" She looked at him stumped. "That what I thought." He said heading back to his backpack to set up my tent. "If you leave without our permission then I will be forced to report you to the council for foul play." The council was what they called the royal families, all of their parents were a part of it in addition to about ten other families. Avery showed him his cell phone. "All I have to do is dial." Oddly enough cell phone still had signal all the way out there. They had interrupted on Avery’s group’s hunt, and broke the code endangering themselves and the other. Kit's wounded side was proof of that. "Who knows what the council will decide since technically you're still under your parents' supervision." The council would most likely deny their parents access to any of the councils resources. On top of that they might decide that the three of them were not fit for hunting since there was a chance they might go rogue again. Anna didn't seem too bothered about joining the other four, clearly she understood the dangers. The other just didn't understand why she was there in the first place. Was her crush on Max so strong that she was willing to put herself in harm’s way physically and professionally? Kit's face was full of distain, seriously Avery needed to kick this kid's ass one day. And not just on the training mat. The dancing lights were starting to diffuse but they were still in his sight.

"Fine." Max’s voice was raspy. Either he was angry or about to cry, it didn't matter either way. All Avery cared about was to keep everyone safe and alive. 

"From now on you all answer to Roz." He pointed to his sister. Neither of the boys seemed to like that.

"Rei please come here to help me with this." Roz said taking the lead. "Mike, Anna, clear space for a fire." The two girls nodded and began to look around for the best spot. "Avery, Max, work together to set up the tents. When Rei and I are done doing this we will help." She looked up for a second and made eye contact with her brother. "Please play nice, the last thing we need is to fight amongst ourselves." Avery could see Max glaring at him from the corner of my eye but he ignored him and focused on his given task. It didn't take long for camp to be set up completely all they had left was to set up a protective ring. That's why they had packed a bag full of viburnum. Herbs that warded off the supernatural, it was a strand of honeysuckle, and Avery didn't remember it smelling that bad. Roz and he headed out to form a perimeter around the camp, Roz made it clear that nobody was to go out into the woods alone. It felt like it had been a long time since the two siblings were alone together. They left the others to begin on preparing food, they had decided it was best to never leave the Battalignas alone since they might try to leave. It was getting dark and they needed some sort of protection around camp. Avery carried the bag of herbs while Roz tied it up in small patches. They walked around clearing spots for the herb to be placed.   
Viburnum is usually placed on your home's door or window to dispel evil entities but in the wild there was no doors. They had to create a circle to act as a barrier around them. They made sure the perimeter was big. They were far enough that they could only see the light from the fire as a small flicker.

"So what's been going with you lately?" Roz asked breaking the comfortable silence they had going. Avery didn't answer he wasn't sure what to say. "You seem really off." She said placing another patch of herbs down. "Avery talk to me." Damn, he was hoping he could keep things under wrap until after this was all over.

"I don't know what is going on." he sighed. "I've been having these mood swings that hit me at random times." She nodded, clearly she had seen him go through them. "I've been getting a lot of anxiety type symptoms for no reason." She took another piece of viburnum. He didn't know if any of this was big enough for her to really worry about. "I've been seeing colors floating in the air." That stopped her in her tracks. She turned to him with an expression indicating to him that he had her full attention. "During some of these mood swings, I'll start to see these dancing lights floating around people."

"Like auras?" She asked. He had never thought of it that way, maybe she was right.

"Kind of I guess, I don't really know, they only appear when my emotions get out of control." She turned back to her task and set the next piece of herb down. "Like earlier when I was yelling at Max, all I saw was red." 

She nodded moving forward. "What about at the restaurant last night?" Ugh why was she asking all of the right questions! "Did you see lights then? You seemed pretty shaken up."

"That's another problem." He laughed. It was actually nice to talk about the things he thought he had to hide, especially to Roz. "Being around Brooks made me feel on edge, like really on edge....sexually." He dragged out the last word because even though they were very close this was not something they really ever spoke of. 

"Oh?" She smiled awkwardly. "Okay." She looked down trying not to laugh.

"I couldn't control it." He defended. This is not where he thought this conversation was going. "Besides the first time I met him was the first time this whole color thing hit me." 

"Any other..." She paused for a second searching for the word. "syptoms?" Great, she thought he was sick too.

"I kept hearing this noise at the motel." Just talking about it made the music box feel like it was burning a hole in his pocket. "It was vague at first then it started to clear up when I listened to it." She was waiting for him to finish. "I closed my eyes to listen to it for a few seconds and I blacked out for like an hour."

"Did you ever find out what it was?" She asked. He handed her the bag of herbs and reached in his pocket. The music box made his hand feel tingly. 

"When I went to return the keys to our rooms I heard it clear and very loud." He explained. "It was a music box." He showed her the metal piece he had taken out of it. 

"You could hear the music box from outside the room it was in?" She took it and looked it over. "These things aren't very loud."

"It's broken." He said turning it in her hands to show her the broken piece underneath. "It's been broken for like years, the old lady said so." Her eyebrow burrowed together.

"Do you still hear it?"

"No, as soon as she gave it to me the music went away," He answered. "Some of the anxiety symptoms have disappeared." She smiled and handed it back to him.

"Avery it’s going to be okay." She patted his shoulder lightly. She really didn’t know what to do about the information she had just learned. "This could just be stress from the hunt." She moved forward to the next spot and began to clear it. "I mean there has been a lot of deaths involved with this thing but we will find it and stop it." Avery nodded following her. It was relieving that she wasn’t as freaked out as he thought she would be. "And when we do kill this thing we will go back home and take a vacation to relax and forget about everything supernatural." She turned to him looking over his face, she wanted to see if this was helping him or not. "Okay?" 

"Okay." Her brother agreed. She always knew how to cheer him up.

"And if these things keep happening then we will find help." She continued. "But for now I need you to try and set it aside, can you do that?"

"Yes." He said in a snarky tone. He took the bag back from her and held it so she could continue setting up the circle. They walked for a few minutes in silence, partially comfortable silence, partially not. "I think I'm bi." He blurted out when she laid down the last herb. "Well at least gay for Brooks anyway." She just laughed and wiped her hand on her jeans. Avery felt a weird energy from the herbs now that the circle was complete. It was kind of like when he was a kid and you could feel that the television was on in a completely different room. Like the electricity in the air was changing. He didn't have much experience with viburnum so he didn’t know if this feeling is good or bad.

"I think I might be dating Rei." She admitted. He had kind of figured that. 

"Think or?" He raised an eyebrow at her. 

"I don't know." She shrugged. "We have to wait and see how all of this plays out. Then we will go from there."

"Maybe he and Mike can come on our vacation with us." Avery suggested. "That way I have someone to hang out with while you two..." He nodded wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Shut up!" She laughed pushing him away. “Oh my god!” 

"I'm just saying, get cooking on the next generation of hunters." He laughed running away from her. She reached out to hit him but he was out of her range. She laughed chasing after him yelling threats bout how she was going to hurt him when she caught up. If she caught him that is. 

"Avery look!" She called out. She was crouching looking at something on the ground. "I found a print." She pulled out her phone and dialed. The print was somewhat human looking but elongated and thin. Like a mixture between a human and a rabbit. There was slight punctures where the toes ended, this thing had claws. The print didn't look new, the ground was dried mud, so at least a day old or so. "Mike get over here, we are directly northeast of camp. We found a print." Mike was the one more adept to identify footprints. Or at least help them eliminate anything that does not fit the description. The siblings searched for other prints while waiting for the others to arrive. They found another a few yards away but nothing else. 

"How can it leave only two prints?" Avery asked looking for more. "They're not even in the same area." 

"Look?" Roz pointed to the trees above them. There was claw marks at the very top of some of them. "It marks the bottom and the top."

"We are right in the center of its hunting grounds." How had they not thought about checking the top of the trees? "We need to check all the trees within the perimeter." She nodded. Mike and Kit came up running. Kit held his side, it must have still hurt. Mike had her camera ready to take shots of the print. Roz turned to Kit.

"When we get back to camp Mike and Anna will stay researching the rest of us need to check all of the trees." Kit looked up and saw the claw marks. "We need to make sure we didn't lock this thing in with us." Mike put her camera strap back around her neck nodding at Roz to let her know that she was ready to head back. "Only after we search every tree will we be able to eat and rest for a small amount of time." She started back for camp and the others followed checking the trees along the way. "Hopefully by then we have info on what we are dealing with.” Back at camp they relayed information and divided into three groups. Anna, Mike, and Max would stay at camp to research. Roz had wanted Kit to stay instead of Max but he refused. She wasn’t in the mood to argue with him and made Max stay. Roz and Rei took the west end while Kit and Avery took the east end of camp. They were to check the perimeter all the way around to make sure they didn't have that thing watching above them. They were all equipped with guns incase anything happened. The search was quiet on Avery and Kit’s end of camp. The only time they had ever really spoken in their lives was to insult the other. This was no time to insult each other, they had to be a team. Avery hated to admit that but they were. They had no choice but to work together to stay alive. And if that meant they were only going to speak when absolutely necessary then so be it. They didn't find anything. Only the trees on the west side of camp had markings. Maybe they weren't in the middle of that thing’s hunting grounds as they had thought. Maybe they had just reached the edge of its hunting ground. The next question on Avery’s mind was why it needed to mark its territory so profusely? Did that mean that other things were residing in the area too? He had to take a breath, focus on the task at hand. One thing at a time. The hunters regrouped with the others at camp. The sun had gone completely by then. All they had was the fire they started and their flashlights. A person never really notices how scared the dark makes them until they're immersed in it and aware that something scary is in fact out there. Mike and the others came up empty handed from their research. The only few things that met the description of what was going on were not native to that area of the country. Supernatural creatures were very habitual and rarely welcomed change. But then again this thing might be traveling from the map Noah and Logan showed had showed them. That opens up the possibility to many creatures again. The group decided it was best to eat. The food was not as great as it could have been but it was enough to feed them all. Baked beans, spam, and of course more granola bars. None of them wanted to sound like a whiny rich kid but they sure they could have done better with food selection. After dinner Roz decided that they were going to be sleeping in shifts. It was about eight o'clock, they would each rest for a couple of hours and tey would regroup around two in the morning. Kit, Anna, and Avery were the first group to rest. Roz and Max would be second and Mike and Rei were last. It took a while to actually fall asleep. Surprisingly rocky and bumpy floors with only half an inch of padding from a sleeping bag was not very comfortable to any of them. 

“God I hate camping,” Avery thought to himself shifting on the ground trying to sleep. “How could people possibly find this fun?” He had used the restroom once already and it sucked. It's hard to feel like a bad ass Hunter when you're squatting behind a bush to take a shit. Eventually he drifted off to sleep. Even in his subconscious he could feel the power of the viburnum humming in the background. It became like a white noise that helped him stay as sleep. Until it suddenly stopped. His eyes shot open. Have you ever slept with a fan in your room, and as soon as anyone turns of the fan it wakes you up. That's what it felt like. The humming was gone, the power he felt vibrating through the air had stopped. He turned to see Mike was sleeping next to him. That was weird, it had been Anna who was supposed to be there. He opened the tent and saw Anna sitting there next to Roz. Kit and Max were opposite them.   
"Roz." He whispered asking his sister to come to him. He moved in and whispered in her ear. "I think the circle has been broken." She looked at him confused. "When we set it up I could feel its power in the air." 

"How?" She asked. 

"I don't know, but I don't feel it anymore, the change in energy woke me up." He lifted himself completely out of the tent. "Remember what I told you earlier?" She nodded slightly, they couldn't have the others hears this. "It's kind of like that. We need to wake the others." He said turning back towards Mike. Wait why was he still sleeping when my resting shift was over? He looked at Roz, it was as if she knew exactly what thought had crossed his mind. She moved away from him and to where Rei was asleep in the next tent. Avery shook Mike awake and told her to remain calm. Many supernatural things could hear their heart beats. If they let things get to them the supernatural creatures would sense it immediately. It took less than a minute for all of them to be equipped and prepared to fight. "Why didn't you guys wake me up?" Avery asked Mike, he was only supposed to be asleep for two hours but they let him sleep for almost six. 

"We decided you needed the extra sleep." She responded offering him a piece of gum. She put it away quickly and shushed him not wanting to share with the others. 

"We?" 

"Roz, Rei, and I." Ugh, of course Roz was playing mom again. She acted like this whenever he showed any sign of being sick. 

"She didn't skip her sleep shift did she?" Avery wouldn't put it past his sister to do something like that. She always put others ahead of herself. It was nice and sweet but she needed to take care of herself too. He needed to make sure she took care of herself.

"No." She shook her head smiling. "Rei wouldn't let her." She raised her eyebrow shrugging. Maybe Rei had taken the time to tell her about them. Either way it was good that Rei was looking out for her. Maybe them being “kind of together” would be a good thing.

"What is going on?" Kit asked confused. 

"I heard a noise." Avery said looking at him and the others. He couldn't tell them about sensing of powers of the viburnum. It would make no sense to them, and if it did they would burn him alive. He was pretty sure they were looking for any reason to wipe him out of the hunting world. 

"So?" He asked. Was there nothing he could say that the Battalignas wouldn't question.

"I heard it too." Mike cut in. "It could be nothing but still we need to look into it." 

"Yes." Roz said taking over the conversation. 

"Ave, Mike, and Kit, come with me." She looked at him silently asking for a direction in which to go. Her brother nodded to the northeast of camp. "The rest of you stay here and guard our supplies in case this thing is already here." She turned walking in the direction he told her. The four walked in pairs with weapons in hand, making sure to look all around for anything. 

"I don't understand what could have broken the circle." Mike whispered walking along side Avery. "I mean there is no supernatural creature that can touch this herb." 

"It might not be supernatural at all." He whispered back. "An animal, a gust of wind, a falling branch." Even though they had not seen an animal the whole time they had been there. "It could have been another person." He added. 

"Here." Roz said pointing her flashlight at the ground. 

"It looks like someone stepped on it." Kit said crouching down to look at it closer. "It got broken and moved out of place."  
"Here." Mike put her weapon away and pulled out a hair band from her pocket. She took the pieces of herb and began to push them back together. A blood curdling scream in the distance startled the hunters. Mike dropped the herbs and rushed to pick all the pieces up again. Kit took off running towards the scream. 

"Kit no!" Avery yelled following him. "Kit!" These people were acting like they had no formal training. He thought to himself.

"Avery." Roz called out.

"Stay here and fix the circle!" He ordered. “Don’t leave Mike alone!” Keeping her and the others safe was more important him and Kit. "I'll go find him." He turned back to Kit and chased him down. He could see the light from his flashlight bouncing off of the trees in the distance. It was hard keeping up with him in the dark. He managed not to trip over uplifted roots and bushes in my way. Tree branches scratched at him and pulled his hair. Kit''s light went out. How was Avery supposed to find him without a light.

"Turn your light off!" He heard Kit whisper from several feet in front of him. He did as Kit ordered. He moved slowly forward feeling the ground with his feet. He felt Kit take his hand and pull him down behind a bush.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" He scolded. "We said nobody goes out alone!" 

"Look!" He pointed over the bush to a small clearing in front of them. It was Noah the camper from this afternoon, he was on the ground. Dead. His chest was ripped open to expose his insides. His flashlight lay on the ground partially lighting the bone-chilling scene. 

"Noah." Avery sighed. "I thought they had headed back to the city."

"They?"

"Logan." He remembered. "Where is Logan?" He searched around. 

Three gaunt figures approached Noah's dead body. They were tall and emaciated, pale almost transparent skin stretched over pointy angular bones. Looking at these things made his stomach turn. They had long claws on their hands. One of them carried Logan. It dropped him on the ground with a loud thud. Logan was dead, there was no question about it. One of the monsters slashed at the other when it got too close to Logan's body. The third screeched at them for fighting. Kit drew his gun and aimed it at the things in front of them. "Wait!" Avery ordered pushing the gun down. "We need to see their faces to figure out what they are."

"A gun will kill them." Kit muttered.

"Not all creatures die with a gun!" Avery whispered angrily. One of the creatures turned around to look in their direction. Its face was sunken in and an ashy grey. Its eyes were pushed into its sockets making them look pitch black. Even the skin on its face was pulled tautly over its skeleton. Its cheekbones stuck out almost painfully. It had blood dripping from its mouth, sharp rows of jagged teeth glimmered red in the light. Avery knew what they were, and it wasn't good. Both hunters were frozen in place, had it heard them? Two sets of glowing eyes appeared in the bushes behind the three things. They weren't glowing per say, more like when a light is flashed over an animal’s eyes. The cadaverous figures turned back to the dead body after a few seconds. "We need to go back right now." Avery said pulling Max back. "Don't. Make. A. Single. Sound." They took two steps back but froze when a breeze blew by them into the things’ direction. All three of the monsters stopped feeding and sniffed the air around them.   
"They smelled us." Avery said pulling Kit’s arm harder. "They caught scent of your blood." He looked down to his bandaged side. "Run!" Avery turned back towards camp running as fast as possible. It didn't matter how fast they were. They had almost no chance out running these things in the dark. Even if they had light on their side it was a slim chance that they could outrun a group of wendigoes. They were hunting wendigoes. Shit.


	10. Chapter 10 Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avery and Kit must face off against the wendigoes, but will they make it back to camp and safety?

Chapter 10: Claws

Believe it or not this was the first time Avery had ever had to run for his life. He had trained for this in school but surprisingly getting a good grade was not as convincing as death to make a person try to run their hardest. He had not realized just how far away he and Kit had ran from the edge of camp. Mike and Roz's flashlight looked like small candles from where they were. Kit was falling behind, speed was the one thing he had on Avery and he was failing to prove it at a time like this? The only reason Avery noticed was because he was still holding on to the sleeve of Kit’s jacket. 

"Faster!" Avery ordered stumbling over an uplifted root. He re-caught his balance several steps later and continued to move as fast as he could. The wendigoes were just yards behind them and getting closer with every step. They were screeching at them, it felt like they were trying to get in their heads, taunting them the way athletes taunt an opponent. The horrible sounds were coming from all around hunters. They were in formation, panic was worsening inside Avery. The wendigoes knew what they were doing. They were hunting them. Kit stumbled holding on to his side. "C'mon! C'mon!" Avery put Kit’s arm over his shoulder and held on to his side pulling the younger hunter along. Roz's flickering candle didn't seem to be getting any closer. Kit still had his gun out. He turned to look behind him and shot a few bullets. Avery knew that there is no way Kit had actually hit any of the wendigoes. Even if he managed to hit one, bullets wouldn't do anything to them. It might slow them down for a second-that and piss them off. One of them had almost reached the hunters. Avery felt it's claws graze his calf. It knew that if he fell they were both doomed. There was no way they were going to make it back to camp. It felt like everything in this forest was made to slow them down. Every branch reached out to hit them. Every rock was determined to trip them. Avery felt blood trickle down his cheek as they ran. Must have been a scratch from a branch. Kit fired off a few more rounds. His arm caught one of the branches and both of them came falling down to the ground. Kit landed on his wounded side. “Seriously did this guy forget all of his training?” Avery thought. Avery on the other hand rolled into the fall using his momentum to land standing a few feet away. Kit groaned struggling to stand up. The wendigo was just yards away. Avery pulled out his gun and shot at it. He hit its side with the bullet. It stumbled back for a second but continued to move forward at them. Avery wasn’t planning on stopping it, he knew that was impossible with a pistol, he was just hoping to slow it down enough for Kit to stand back up and run again. He shot a second bullet aiming for its side again. Maybe if he shot it enough he’d wear it down. "Anytime now Kit!" Avery yelled over the sound of the third bullet. The wendigo shrieked at him vexed from the shots. It retreated back into the woods. Kit was almost up by then. Avery hurried to his side and continued to lead him back towards camp. They had a chance now, with one of the wendigoes retreating back to wherever the hell they came from. "We can make it!" Avery whispered holding Kit close. His steps were unbalanced and pained on the left side, his wounded side. Avery didn't want to say I told you so. Well he did, just right then was not the appropriate time. Considering their situation it was comical that Kit thought he was prepared to take any kind of supernatural creature on. Still Avery couldn't take the slight grin off of his face. The shrieking approaching them wiped the smile away reminding Avery of where they were. The chance at making it to camp mixed with the terror that there was still something behind him gave him another burst of energy to move forward. Kit was groaning with every other step. Avery could feel moisture hit his waist. He looked down to see Kit's side covered in blood. The fall must have reopened his wound. He had to get the younger hunter back to camp as soon as possible. Kit felt like he was getting heavier and heavier as they ran. Avery may have been a trained hunter but everybody had their limits. Running full speed while hauling Kit was beginning to wear him out. Kit’s groaning was getting louder, the blood was still trickling farther down Avery’s leg. Roz's candle was becoming a flashlight again. Avery was still too far to see either her or Mike but he was closer, it was enough for him to fight through. Enough for him to push Kit to fight through too. 

"Avery ," Kit’s voice sounded strained, that could not be good. "I can't." He huffed out the last part. 

"Yes you can!" Avery snapped back. He was not giving up on Kit, and he wasn't going to let Kit give up on him. "You're gonna make it and eventually you'll rank higher than me and Roz!" It was all he could think to say, he needed to keep Kit going. Kit laughed lightly as best as he could through another groan. 

"If I make it out of here, I'm gonna kick your ass." He weakly laughed again. Maybe the wound was worse than they had thought. His head started to bob forward as if he was losing control. 

"Kit stay with me!" Avery ordered. One of the wendigoes clipped the bottom of his shoes. They were catching up again. Kit's body was going limp. Not now Kit, you bastard. Always making everything difficult for Avery. He fell forward completely pulling Avery down with him. Avery didn't have a chance to try and roll his way out of the fall. He landed on his stomach the butt of his gun punching into him. He held in a painful cry and forced himself into a crouch. He held his gun out and aimed it at the wendigo right behind Kit. He shot at it missing it on the first shot. He shot two more times close enough to scare it away. He scrambled to Kit but the third wendigo came out of nowhere and pulled him away. It roared in victory dragging Kit behind it. It was too fast for Avery chase after it. He saw the other two waiting for him to chase after Kit. It was a trap. They set up a trap. The hunter was frozen in place. “What do I do?” He asked himself. He couldn't just leave Kit to die. But if he ran after him he would be facing three wendigoes alone, and he was down to about two bullets and a few throwing knives. Hunters were supposed to protect each other he reminded himself. The two ambushers were tired of waiting for him to move and slowly crawled towards him. He had to run back to camp. "Forgive me Kit." He sighed and took off running. Admittedly he was moving a lot faster now that he was alone. He kicked myself mentally for just thinking that. He could finally see and hear Roz and Mike. They were just standing there waiting, until they saw him running at full speed. He didn't have to see Roz's face to know the panic that she felt. 

"Roz! Shoot!" Her brother yelled to her. If anyone could shoot the wendigoes into slowing down it was Roz. He was so close he could feel the power of the viburnum radiating through the forest. All he had to do was run a few yards more. Roz aimed her gun behind him with one hand and her flashlight with the other. 

"Run in a straight line!" She ordered. 

“Well duh!” He thought. He wasn't going to zig zag while she had a gun pointed at something behind him. She shot a few times but he had no clue if she hit anything. He didn't care because he had reached safety, just a few strides more. He was there, He was safe! He was hit by a flash of bright light. It sent him flying back into the ground. He looked up at Roz and Mike who seemed just as confused as he was. Avery pushed himself up and tried to run to safety again. The light stopped him, it was like a wall. A force field stopping the hunter from entering the circle.

"Roz what the hell is going on?" He asked frantically. He tried to put his arm through the wall and the light rippled through the air. "Roz!" He couldn’t get through to safety. Something heavy tackled him from the side and clawed the gun away from his hand. It was the wendigo. It punctured a hole in the collar of his jacket and dragged Avery away from camp at full speed. 

"Avery!" Avery saw mike run out of the circle to run after him.

"Get back inside!" He yelled, a rock dug into his back as the wendigo dragged him. It was too late. The third wendigo dove at Mike from the trees and started to drag her away too. Avery could see Roz pacing quickly back and forth freaking out. She was shrinking rapidly as this thing pulled him away from camp. The forest floor was bumpy, and hard. His ass felt every rock and root along the way. He pulled out one of his throwing knives and reached back to slash at the wendigo. The blade seemed to do nothing to it. It took a sharp turn and his hand smashed against a tree. Pain shot through his finger quickly. He grunted in agony letting go of the knife. He could hear Mike scream behind them. She didn't seem to be having any luck getting loose either. They were being dragged to the same place. “Great we could die together.” Avery thought. If they made it to wherever the hell they were dragging them alive, they may be able to survive this. A rush of wind blew past. The kind of wind you feel when a semi-truck drives by you on the road. Something very fast had just blurred right by Avery and the wendigo. He saw a human-like thing run right at the wendigo dragging Mike. It ran on all fours and pounced on the wendigo. All three of them rolled around the ground. It took Avery a second to realize that he had stopped moving. The wendigo was still holding his collar but it was growling at something. Avery turned to see a person in front of them. It was a man. He seemed off, his face misshaped. It had a canine looking snout. Its eyes glowing red. It was the thing he had seen in the bushes. The man dropped down in a crouch and bellowed loudly. The sound of the growl made Avery’s heard jump. The wendigo responded with its own growl letting Avery go in the process. The hunter rolled away and stood quickly looking behind to see if he could find Mike. She was already running towards him. Thank god, seeing her was a great relief. Avery ran towards her, the two crashed into a hug midway. Avery looked her over but she seemed fine. 

"It just scratched me but I'm fine." She said. The creature that saved her came up to them slowly. It paced around them, neither of them was sure why. It didn't seem to be trying to cage them in but to protect them. It was keeping the wendigoes away. It was female, at least had a female body with the same canine snout. The wendigo shrieked in pain followed by a loud snapping. The other creature had bent its arm at an impossible angle. Both hunters grimaced at the painful sight. The wendigo thrashed away from the other creature. It ran away holding its now broken arm at its chest. The other creature turned to the two hunter. It was a male, tall, and muscular. Avery knew this creature, he recognized this creature's body and his scent. He could distinguish his cologne. Sandalwood.

"Brooks?" Avery asked moving past the female to look at him. He couldn't believe it, had he been following them? He turned away for a second and grunted as he shifted back. His bone structure shifted making snapping noises. Avery had never seen anyone shift before, it sounded painful. "You're a werewolf?" He turned back to Avery when his face was human again. He was breathing hard, the shift had taken more energy out of him than the fight with the wendigo had. The wolf noticed the bruising that had started on the hunter’s arm. He rushed over and looked at Avery’s arm. He ran his fingers over the darkening flesh, the bruise was growing. Anger flashed in his face. His other hand ran over Avery’s stomach. Avery winced in pain. It was where he had fallen on his gun. He had forgotten he had done that. The adrenaline of trying not to die must have overpowered the pain. Werewolves can sense when others are in pain.

"Are you okay?" Brooks asked. His voice was soft but strained as if he was holding emotions back. He brushed some stray hairs away from Avery’s face. 

"Seriously?" Avery asked pushing his hand gently away. "You're gonna try to do this right now?" Brooks made a sour face and reached for his face again. "Stop." The hunter whispered sternly. The female werewolf turned away shifting as well. Avery felt Mike move closer to him. It didn't matter that they sort of knew Brooks, he was a werewolf and they were hunters, they were not meant to get along. 

"We need to find shelter." The woman said. She was strikingly beautiful. It made sense, she was a god damn werewolf. Same reason why Brooks was so damn handsome. Attraction was one of the many ways supernatural creatures lured their prey, the wendigoes clearly not included. Probably the reason why Avery couldn't stop thinking about him, Brooks had been luring him. Freaking werewolves.

"We need to head back to camp." Avery said taking Mike's hand and leading her away. Their bodies were sore. Getting dragged across the forest floor sure did some damage to them.

"You won't make it," Brooks said following after them. "Not in the shape you're in." Both hunters were limping badly, Avery hated to admit it but Brooks was right. If the wendigoes came back he and Mike were dead. 

"Camp is about three miles that way." The female said. "There is no chance you'll pull this off." Mike looked at her confused. There was no way that they were three miles away from camp they had been dragged for only a few minutes.

"Three miles?" She asked. "How did we end up three miles away?" 

"Wendigoes are extremely fast." Avery reminded. It was still hard for them to wrap around their brain just how fast they were. "It's a miracle I even managed to make it to the edge of camp when it chased Kit and I." The woman shifted on her feet uncomfortably at the mention of Kit. 

"They wanted you to lead them to your camp.” Brooks said. The hunters looked at each other in shock, how could that have slipped Avery's mind? He could have just sealed all of their fates. “Please come with us." Brooks asked stopping in front of them. "We can keep you safe until morning, then you can return." 

"What about our siblings and the others?" Mike asked. She reached for her phone in her pocket only to come up with pieces of it. The wendigo that attacked her smashed it.

"And Kit." Avery mentioned. He never thought he would be making Kit a priority in his life. "Those things dragged him away." He reached for my own phone but it was also smashed. He let the pieces fall to the forest ground.

"He's already dead." The woman snapped getting in Avery’s face. Speaking about him pushed a nerve in her. He reached for his knife calmly, he didn't want to kill her but he would if she gave him no other choice. She looked down at his weapon and sighed. "There is no way he survived." Her voice was softer now but still somewhat angry.

"Coral." Brooks said pulling her back. "Stop it." His voice carried a small growl. The growl made her step back, he must have been the leader. He turned back to Mike and Avery. "Those things broke your phones on purpose." He stopped and thought for a second, he needed to get them, well Avery out of the open woods as soon as possible. "If you want I can send my cousin Coral to check on them." He pointed to the female werewolf. Coral didn't seem to like that idea. The two hunters looked at each other, Avery shrugged.

"Can you give them this?" Mike asked pulling out a small handkerchief from her pocket. "Rei will know that we are safe." 

"As long as we can keep them from going out of the circle." Avery said to Brooks. "There is no reason for them to be out here, I don't think they even know what we are dealing with." Brooks listened intently. "If they go out all they will have is guns, which are useless against these things." He turned and nodded to Coral. She stepped forward and took the handkerchief from Mike. A few seconds later she had disappeared into the shadows running towards camp. She was fast. 

"C'mon." Brooks said taking Avery’s hand. "These things have your scents and probably blood, they will come after you again." The hunter sighed pulling his hand away. Brooks stopped to look at him, he was hurt by this. Being near him would make Avery confused. Confusion is not something the hunter need in the middle of this hunt, especially not against wendigoes.

"Sorry, I'm just not very sure about you right now." He said reaching for Mike instead. The hurt in Brooks’s face shifted into annoyance.

"I'm not the only one who lied about who I am." He prodded. Was he serious?

"I lied to get information so that we could protect people." Avery defended. "Besides I didn't say you lied." he said. "I understand why you kept it a secret." 

"Then why are you mad?" He led them to a patch of rocks leading up into a small cave. He scaled the rocks quickly and turned reaching down for them. Avery let Mike go first. Brooks lifted her as if she weighed nothing and guided her into the cave. Avery tried to climb the rocks but it was harder to lift himself than he thought. His lower back was starting to kill him. His hand was swollen and felt like it was on fire. "Here." Brooks reached down to help him up. Avery took his hand hesitantly and he lifted the hunter up with ease. Werewolf strength, and he doesn't even have to train to have it. The cave was small, but it was safe. Avery had to crouch to get inside. Mike was already sitting on the floor leaning against the wall. Just looking at her made Avery feel her exhaustion, maybe it was just his own exhaustion finally hitting him. Brooks climbed in last and sat across from them. It was awkward sitting there across from him not knowing what to say. Not that Avery had anything to really say when he thought he was human but that was more of a shyness problem. Still he had to say something.

"Thank you for helping us." Avery said quietly. Mike fell into him, he moved his arm to wrap it around her. Brooks just nodded in response, he knew that Avery and Mike weren't together but Avery choosing her over him irked him. He really made no effort to hide his dislike of the two hunters sitting so close. "What were you doing out here anyways?" Avery asked.

"You're not the only ones here on a hunt." Brooks responded.

"What does that mean?" Mike asked half yawning, her tiredness was rubbing off on Avery.

"It gets cold here at night." Brooks said looking over the two hunters. They were starting to shiver, even though Avery was trying to hide it. He needed to be closer to Avery, he just needed to even if Avery was mad at him. "You should move closer to me, wolves have a higher body temperature." Avery really didn't want to be close to him. He knew what would happen if he did. Mike shivered a bit more, she only had thin t-shirt on. Avery had on his jacket but Kits blood on his leg was not fully dry yet making his entire side feel frozen. Brooks pushed himself forward wedging in between the two. Brooks was warm, really warm. Avery hated that, he wanted to snuggle up closer to him for comfort but he refused. Brook could hear footsteps coming closer to the cave. Even through all of the sounds and scents in the forest he knew it was Coral. Her right foot always scuffed when she walked. Several seconds later she appeared climbing into the cave. 

"The others are fine?" She said sitting across from the others. "They are a bit stir crazy and yelling but they decided not to leave the circle."

"Did you leave it?" Mike asked from under Avery's arm. Coral nodded. 

"I tied it to a tree near the edge of your camp." Coral's face was stone cold, she was clearly angry about something. "He was still there." She said softly, loathing laced her voice.

"Who?" Avery asked, he could feel her anger crawling towards him. He knew he was going to feel her emotions he should at least know why. She looked at him hesitant of whether she should answer that question or not.

"The other Battaligna boy." Her brow cringed at the mention of the hunter's name.

"Max?" He asked. She nodded her face still sour. "Why does it matter that he's here?" He looked to Brooks. Brooks was looking sternly at Coral, she must have brought up a taboo subject. She didn't seem to mind Brooks's look.

"There is no trace of the one the wendigoes dragged off, he better hope that those things kill him." She said softly. She leaned forward and took a hold of Mike. Mike looked at Avery confused. "I'm just going to keep you warm, calm down." Coral said pulling her towards her.

"Wait." Avery said pulling away from Brooks. Brooks had said that they were on a hunt and Coral seemed to hate the Kit and Max. "You're after the Battalignas." He put it together. Neither of the wolves responded to him, they traded glances. Avery stood despite all of the pain in his body and pulled Mike away from Coral's hold. "Why are you after them?" He didn't really care about the Battalignas but as a rule hunters protected each other. 

"Don't worry about it." Coral sneered. Mike kept her eyes on the wolves but she reached behind Avery to find one of his throwing knives.

"Tell me!" Avery demanded. He knew he shouldn't have let Brooks convince him to stay with them for the night. Hunters and wolves were not meant to play together. 

"Avery it's not important." Brooks said trying to calm him down. His face told Avery that this was not a subject he wanted to speak of. 

"Tell me!" Avery yelled. He felt Mike finally find the knife. She was getting prepared in case things escalated to violence. 

"Because they killed our family!" Brooks yelled, his voice carried a thunderous roar throughout the small cave. Even Coral froze at his sudden outburst. His eyes were bright red. The wolf's anger was taking over him. Avery looked away he knew the anger came from deep pain, he wasn't expecting that. "They killed every one we loved." He spoke slower trying to keep his cool. Brooks could see his yelling was frightening Avery. He was standing his ground for Mike's sake but his heart was racing, his breathing was forced. Brooks hated affecting Avery this way. "They hunted us down when we lived in California fifteen years ago, Coral and I were the only two to survive." He knew if he could just explain himself to the hunters then they would calm down. The wendigoes were still out there, if their heart rates kept going so fast they might be found. He knew he and his cousin could defend them but there was only two of them compared to at least three wendigoes. 

"Is that why you were at the restaurant that night?" Avery asked, he was still on edge but he was speaking, that had to be good. Brooks nodded.

"I was there watching them." He looked directly at Avery. "Then I heard you speaking." Being around the hunter made it hard for the wolf to focus on anything else. 

"They were the car that drove away." Avery said to himself, it made sense that Brooks was there now.

"Were they the couple that asked you about the killings before we did?" Mike asked turning to look at the wolf. Brooks nodded again. 

"They were there too." He began. "But when I caught sight of you I completely forgot about them."

"We followed them here to end it all." Coral added. She was still breathing hard, she really hated the Battalignas. Neither Mike nor Avery could really blame them.

"But when I caught your scent I decided to lay low, until you came across the wendigoes." Brooks kept his eyes directly on Avery's, he wanted Avery to know that he was in no danger with him.

"What about Anna?" Mike asked. "She had nothing to do with this." She knew that the wolves wouldn't have let her get away to bring back more hunters.

"We were sure the wendigoes would take care of her." Brooks admitted. 

"You knew that these things were out here killing people?" Mike asked angrily. 

"They're wendigoes," Coral interrupted. "Its what they do." Avery took a deep breath. Deep down he had hoped that the hunters and wolves would be able to get along but he knew all along that this was an unrealistic expectation.

"I'm sorry about your family," Avery said quietly looking between the two, he didn't want to finish his thought but he had to. "But I can't let you kill them." Coral growled at him angrily. "Killing one of them means declaring war on all of us." He looked in Brooks eyes. "So you'll have to kill us all." Brooks flinched at the thought, he and his cousin were not violent creatures. That was the reason that they had fled to Colorado in the first place. They could hide there and run through the woods whenever their primal sides needed to breathe. He started to speak but stopped when he heard something in the distance. It was out of the hunter's hearing range but it was moving towards them and fast, it wouldn't be long before they did. Avery heard it before Mike did but only by a second. It was screaming. Blood curdling screams that meant someone was in pain. 

"Kit." Mike said moving towards the opening of the cave. Avery looked at Brooks expecting him to react. Brooks shook his head, he could distinguish human voices with his supernatural hearing. This was not Kit’s voice he was hearing. Mike was already at the door figuring out the best way to climb down to the forest floor.

"No, no, no!" Avery said rushing to pull her back. She fought with him not understanding why he wasn't running to help Kit.

"We have to help him!" She yelled pushing him away.

"Mike, it's not Kit!" Avery said putting his hand over her mouth. "It's not him!" The screaming continued yelling her name. These things were playing mind games with them. Mike continued to yell through his hand trying to leave the cave. "Be quiet!" Avery begged her. "It's not real." He could feel her anxiety creeping up on him, if he didn't calm her down then soon he'd be joining in on her flip out.

"You need to calm her down." Brooks said moving closer to them. "They'll hear her heart beat freaking out." The wolf ran his finger through her hair hoping it would help in the slightest.

"I'm trying!" Avery sneered. "I don't know what to do, we aren't exactly prepared to deal with psychological warfare." That is what this was after all, the wendigoes were playing on their weaknesses. They were separated, scared, and worried about one of their fellow hunters disappearing.

"Just think of something." Coral said from behind them. Avery thought to himself, he thought of all of the time he freaked out and how he calmed himself down. The music box came to his mind. It was the last thing that calmed him down. The second he thought about the music box. He could hear it clearly in his mind. He started humming along to the song from the box. Mike looked at him completely lost. Her eyes were focused on his the whole time. Her breathing slowed down and she clung to him. She looked like she was in a trance. The screaming continued in the background but it was as if she couldn't hear it anymore. Avery continued humming, it was working, she was tranquil.

"It gonna be okay." Avery said to her. Her head bobbed forward like a child fighting to stay awake disputed their tiredness. He let her fall into him when she finally fell asleep. 

"You put her to sleep." Brooks whispered. He nodded behind Avery to Coral. Avery turned to see the female wolf also in a deep slumber. Avery was astonished, his singing had put them to sleep. How? "Here." Brooks put his arms around Mike and lifted her. He moved her slowly to the other sleeping girl and lay her next to her. Immediately the two girls moved closer to each other. 

"I don't understand." Avery said to himself. "How?" He didn't actually expect Brooks to have an answer but he felt the question still needed to be answered. They sat in silence watching the girls sleep for a minute. The screaming outside had stopped. Maybe the wendigoes gave up when Mike's heart rate went back down.

"Do you really think that the Battalignas won't betray you the minute they have a chance?" The wolf asked breaking the silence he sat back opposite the hunter. "To them you'll be nothing but another one of us. They'll hunt you down." There was no anger in his voice, he was merely stating facts. 

"One of you?" Avery asked confused. He lifted himself up enough to move rocks from underneath him. That question surprised Brooks. Did Avery really not know?

"Avery, I saw what happened when you tried to cross the circle of viburnum." The Hunter didn't respond, he had not thought about the incident with everything that had happened since. "Only humans can cross that." He pointed to Mike. "She crossed it just fine." Avery felt himself breathing heavily. He knew there was something wrong with him but this possibility had not crossed his mind. Was he a supernatural creature? If he was then what was he? It was comforting to know that he could at least talk openly to Brooks about this since he was a werewolf.

"I've been hearing voices, and seeing weird colors for the past few days." He admitted. "I can feel other people's emotions sometimes, especially anger and fear." He looked at the sleeping pair next to them. "Apparently my humming can put you to sleep." The nonchalantly way he spoke made Brooks uneasy, it was as if Avery had been fighting these things and he was now giving up. He'd lost the fight. He understood in a way, Avery came from a hunting background, now he was finding out he might be one of the hunted. "Certain people make it go into overdrive." The hunter looked up at the wolf through his heavy Spanish lashes. Brooks couldn't help but think about the hunter's attractive demeanor. 

"You make me go crazy too." Brooks said softly. Avery snorted slightly. He couldn't images how he affected the wolf. "When you're near me, I can't focus on anything else." The wolf explained. "It's like whatever your powers are doing to you, they affect me too." Powers, Avery wasn't sure how he felt about hearing Brooks say that word. "Wolves have heightened senses, your powers must affect me." He looked up at Avery, the hunter's eyes were steady in his face. "You're powers are also affected by the emotions of others so..." He moved his hand in a circular motion.

"You make me go crazy in return." Avery whispered. "Like a cycle of extreme emotions." Brooks nodded.

"But the thing is when supernatural creatures," He paused, he didn't see Avery flinch at the words but he felt his heart jump. He didn't want to upset the younger male but if he was going to go back to camp where the others might turn on him then it was best he knew as much as he possibly could. "When their powers affect emotions then as soon as they leave the emotions leave too." Avery seemed confused at the statement. Brooks had to take a breath, he had spent so much time keeping a distance from everyone but his cousin and suddenly he wanted to open up to this man. A hunter he had just met less than two days ago. "When you leave I still feel the same way. It almost a relief when I see you again, like I need to be near you." He looked up at the brown eyes watching him. "I've never felt like this for anybody before." He waited for Avery to respond. Avery smiled warmly.

"You're the first guy I've ever been attracted to." Avery wasn't sure why this was important to share but it was. "So I guess we have both had a very confusing couple of days." His response made the tension in the wolf's body melt away. Avery moved across to sit next to Brooks. Partially to be closer, partially to be warmer. "But even with all of this." He whispered leaning into Brooks broad shoulder. "I can't let you hurt Kit and Max." Brooks lay his head over Avery's, his hair was soft. "They gave their power of command to my sister and I, they are ours to protect." The wolf sighed.

"If they make a move against Coral or I..." Brooks began.

"If they attack you, by all means defend yourself." Avery interrupted his statement. He wasn't expecting the wolves to just do nothing. "But neither of them had anything to do with what happened to your family. They must have been just children when it happened." He turned his face to look up at the older male. "Do you think revenge will really help you move on?" Avery's voice was deep but gentle. He honestly was trying to do what was best for everyone. Brooks shook his head. He knew it wouldn't fix anything, his family would still be gone. Killing Max and Kit would result in him and Coral being hunted down again. Things would just get worse. "You made a life here in Colorado," Avery began. "You're free from them, they don't know you're here." Brooks didn't respond, Avery was right. It took him a second to remember that he was physically touching the hunter, he should be going on an emotional overdrive, they both should, but they were calm and at peace. He sat in silence for a minute before he heard Avery's heart beat level slowly. He was asleep. He listened to the slow soothing rhythm of his heart before falling asleep himself. 

.......

Avery felt the sun hitting his face before he opened his eyes. He lifted himself halfway up looking around the cave. Mike and Coral were spooning several feet from him. He huffed out a small laugh. He himself was half wrapped around Brooks who was still snoring lightly into the cave wall. He looked over his hand, the bruising was still there but he could move it so it was getting better. He looked out of the cave opening to see a bright day out. He had to get back to camp. His stomach growled loudly. He had no idea what time it was, he had to get back to his sister and tell them what they were up against. The blood on his side was mostly dry by now, he couldn't wait to go wash up and change. He heard Brooks moan as he stretched his legs.   
"Morning." Avery said his voice raspy from sleep.

"Morning." Brooks responded groggily. Brooks looked at his watch, it was almost ten o'clock. 

"I have to get back to camp." Avery said stretching his arms. He reached over and shook Mike lightly. She opened her eyes looking around confused. She clearly didn't remember falling asleep. "Mike we have to go." Avery said softly. "It's daytime." She lifted herself waking Coral up in the process. 

"We can walk you back." Brooks yawned. "Make sure you get there safely." Avery nodded smiling.

"Thanks." It took them a minute to completely awake and leave the cave. Both the hunters still felt sore, sleeping on rocks wasn't exactly comfortable. They walked slowly back mostly from soreness but also they were hoping to find a stream or something to drink. It took them about an hour before they even saw the edge of camp. The wolves stopped walking. "Thanks again." Avery said to Brooks. The wolf nodded. 

"We will follow you as far as we can without being seen." Coral nodded and walked away into the bushes to the side of them. "Just yell for me if you need me." Avery stepped forward kissing him. It was a small peck of the lips but it meant a lot to both of them. Brooks looked at Mike who was pretending she wasn't smiling. He blushed a bit before walking into the bushes opposite his cousin. 

"Let's go." Avery said taking Mike's hand leading her back.


	11. Chapter 11 Stagnant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avery deliberates whether he should open up to his sister or not. Mike helps him learn who he really is...or rather what he really is.

Chapter 11: Stagnant

The two young hunters could see the others walking around camp. Roz and Max were pacing back and forth, they were probably the most worried. Mike and Rei had worked out their system with the handkerchief to let the other know they were okay. The others didn't have that system. Besides there was no way Roz would have been calm after she saw something drag her younger brother away in the dark. Roz was the first to see them In the distance. They were at the edge of the viburnum circle where they had been when the wendigoes attacked. Roz began running towable them immediately. The others watched her move confused until they saw Avery and Mike. Rei took off running a second later.

"Please don't mention the wolves." Avery begged softly. Mike pointed to the ground by camp.

"The viburnum." Mike whispered as their sibling approached. Avery had not really thought about it, How was he supposed to go in and out if it blocked him. It only took a few seconds more before their older sibling came crashing into them with tight desperate hugs. Avery held back a painful groan as best as he could. It didn't slip past his sister. She looked him over frantically gasping at the blood covering his side. 

"It's not mine," Avery said pushing her hand away slowly. "All I have is my wounded hand." He showed her the purple mess covering his arm. "I hit a tree while trying to free myself."

"Who's blood is it?" Roz asked looking over at Mike who had no more than bruises and scratches herself.

"Where's Kit?" Max asked finally reaching them. Mike and Avery looked at each other not sure how to answer.

"He was taken by them." Mike answered. She began to move back to camp, the others followed.

"What do you mean taken?!" Max was angry, it was understandable his little brother was missing. Nobody could blame him if he caused an uproar.

"He took off last night after he heard a sound," Avery began, he started to peel off his jacket. "I caught up to him but the wendigoes caught scent of his wound." The others stopped walking in shock. They were all well aware of what a danger a wendigo could be, but he said wendigoes-plural.

"Wendigoes?" Roz asked. She knew wendigoes were bad news, especially for relatively inexperienced hunters. "We are up against wendigoes?" Her brother nodded.

"We saw three." He continued to move forward. Mike was walking ahead of the rest, she wanted to reach the circle first to move one of the viburnum pieces so Avery could walk past without being thrown back. "They chased us but he fell on his side."Avery pointed to the blood on his clothing. "I tried to help him but they were too fast and they took him."

"And you just let them?!" Max pushed him. Avery stumbled back a few steps but caught his balance. He knew that all of this would fall on him in Max’s eyes. He didn't want to fight Max but he would if he had to.

"I was up against three of them, there was no way I would have survived!" He moved towards Max, if he wanted a fight he would get a fight. Roz and Rei stood inbetween them.

"Stop!" His sister ordered both of them. She looked at Max. "Calm down, if we fight amongst ourselves we will never find him." She shouted.

"He's already dead." Anna said from behind Max. "There is no way he survived a wendigo attack without proper weapons." The others stood quietly, they knew she was probably right.

"That's not true." Avery interrupted. "When we ran into the wendigoes they were in the middle of feeding." He stopped for a second. "On Logan and Noah." He said softly. He looked to Roz and Rei, he knew the names meant nothing to Anna or Max.

"The hikers we met?" Rei asked shocked. Avery nodded grimly. "But they were headed back to town how did they end up back here?"

"It doesn't matter," Avery said abruptly. He could feel Max's anger taking over. "They are dead. The wendigoes only attacked us because we took them by surprise, they weren't looking for more food." 

"Wendigoes like to eat fresh kills." Roz said to Max. 

"There is a chance they will keep him alive until they feed again." Max says, it shouldn't cheer him up to think of his brother being captive by monsters but it was better than dead.

"We have two days tops." Mike said from the edge of camp. "Before they feed again." 

"We need to tailor our plan of attack." Roz said heading back. "Rei, you and Anna look through all of the maps we have and try to find caverns, mine shafts any dark place where wendigoes could hide away in." She hesitated for a second when she reached the edge of the circle. The sight of Avery not being able to cross the line flashed in her mind. Supernatural creatures could cross that line, that meant that Avery was not human. It was too much happening at once. Mike cleared her throat lightly and Roz saw that she had kicked one of the herbs askew a few inches. It was all that was needed for Avery to walk through it. Roz nodded and continued her orders. "Mike stay here and research all you can about wendigoes hunting habits and weaknesses." Avery crossed the circle line slowly hoping he'd be okay. He crossed it fine. Once he was on the other side he felt the power humming back to life. Mike had set the herb back. "Avery, eat, wash up and in half an hour you, Max and I will go out searching for Kit." She turned to Max. "We need to return by night fall whether we find him or not. Understand?" She didn't like having to ask him that she would have dreaded being in his shoes, but she needed to protect all of them not just Kit. Max nodded solemnly, he knew this wasn't personal. It was business, but he couldn't help but take it personal. "Okay, let's get started." Roz said clapping. They all headed back to camp to do as they were told. The others had already eaten breakfast, Mike and Avery were starving. Canned food was not very good but after the night they'd had anything slightly chewable would satisfy them. They shared a bottle of water to try and clean themselves up. Roz and Rei watched them from a distance, partially just being overprotective older siblings but also because their minds were swarming with question about what the hell had happened the night before. Roz had not forgotten what happened when Avery tried to cross the viburnum, or the fact that she swore she saw more than three wendigoes. Well at least more than three creatures out there. After cleaning herself as best as she could Mike zipped herself inside one of the tents claiming she needed to be alone to do her research. Avery was thankful to be wearing clean clothing. It was freeing to not have his shirt plastered to him. Or his jacket hardened by blood. He put his dirty clothes in a plastic bag, if anyone outside of the hunters saw this they would find it incriminating. When he was ready he signaled his sister heading to the edge of camp. He was the first to reach the circle. He waited for his sister looking out into the woods. He was going to show them the areas where he and Kit first saw the group of wendigoes. Hopefully they could backtrack clues on where the wendigoes’ nest was. Roz arrived before Max did. She stood next to him silently for a second.   
“What happened last night?” She moved her leg forward moving one of the herbs breaking the circle. She wasn’t very specific about the question but he knew exactly what she was asking.

“I don’t know.” Her brother answered stepping past the herb. She waited until he was a few steps further before she put the herb back in its place. “That was the first time anything like that had happened.” He turned to face her. All of the things Brooks said came rushing to him, what if his sister was the one to turn on him. No, no, he shook the thought away. He knew Roz, he loved Roz, and she loved him, they were family. 

“Avery, this thing only wards away supernatural creatures.” She pointed to the circle. Her words were slow and cautious. “It threw you several yards away.” Avery didn’t respond. There was nothing he could really say to explain the event. “And you’ve been acting weird for the past week or so.” She continued. “You’re not keeping something from me are you?” She looked over his face waiting for a suitable reply.

“No,” He defended quickly. “Roz, if something came up, I would tell you. Ok?” He turned looking out into the woods remembering the two wolves were out there, should he tell her that? “I know I’ve been weird lately but I don’t know why.” He thought he saw something move in the bushes. Sandalwood. It was Brooks. He turned his attention back to his sister. “I’m trying to figure this all out myself. I will let you know as soon as I do.” He put his arm around her. “But one of us needs to focus on this.” He motioned to the woods. As much as he wanted to share with his sister he didn’t want to split her focus. She was already so concerned for him as it was and she didn’t know half the story of what was going on. 

“Here comes Max.” Roz said quietly and pulling away from him. “Which way are we going?” Her voice was monotone, she was back to business. He wasn’t sure if she was angry at him or if she was disappointed in him. Either way he didn’t like it.

“We ran into them after we ran a few minutes in that direction.” He pointed. “There has got to be blood there or something.” Max had reached them by now. He was carrying guns and handed them each one. 

“Guns don’t work on wendigoes.” Roz reminded. How did the Battalignas even manage to be in the deadly dozen? It was like everything they were taught had gone out the window the minute things got slightly chaotic. 

“They do slow them down though.” Avery said putting his gun under his jacket. “But still fire is our best bet.” He showed them the lighter and spray can he had. 

“Is that my hairspray?” His sister asked reaching for it. 

“No its Mike’s don’t tell her.” He responded moving the can higher out of her reach. “Let’s go.” Walking to the area took longer than Avery had expected. In all fairness he did run to it the night before. It took about twenty minutes to arrive there. There was no way that they could have heard Logan and Noah being attacked from that far away. “They were being hunted.” Avery said looking down at the ground. He could see a trail of blood on the ground leading to where the feast happened.

“What do you mean?” Roz asked. 

“We heard them scream, remember?” He looked around, the blood splattered area. “There is no way we could have heard them this from this far away.”

“What are we looking for?” Max asked.

“There was a flash light on the ground.” He answered moving some leaves with the tip of his knife. He wasn’t going to touch anything if he could help it. “And their supplies, something should be left behind, scraps of clothing something.” 

“They took it with them.” Roz looked around. “Wendigo have human intelligence, they could have taken it all to hide.” 

“Yeah they set up an ambush.” Avery responded. He found a small trail of blood leading west. “Here.” He followed the trail, it was hard to see now that the blood had dried and darkened but there wasn't much else that was red on the forest floor. Not that shade of red. “Then last night they tried to play mind games.” He continued leading the way for the other two. “They imitated Kit to try and draw us out.” 

“How do you know it wasn't the real Kit?” Max asked. More like accused. Avery had no real reason to try and help him or his brother, not with their past.

“Because he,” Avery almost slipped letting information about Brooks out. “He didn't sound completely human.” The stumble on his words got him a side glance from his sister. 

“Wendigoes imitate people you know to draw you out into the dark.” Roz added. “These wendigoes live too far from people to really perfect their skills in this.” She knew that her brother was hiding something but she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. She had to, it didn't matter what was happening to him right now, he was still her little brother. He would always be her little brother. The trail of blood had stopped. The three hunters searched, there was no way if could have just stopped. These things didn't just disappear into thing air. They had to have gone somewhere. 

“I don't see a cave or opening leading down to anything.” Max said. “Which other way could they have gone?” 

“Up.” Roz responded her gaze on the trunk of a large tree. She moved closer to see it better. There was a trail of blood down the side at eye level. They had spent so long looking at the ground that they never looked up. “They climbed the trees the rest of the way.” She looked around the nearby trees. “Look.” He spotted another trail of blood, this time much higher. 

“How are we supposed to follow that around?” Her brother asked. “Just climb tree after tree?” 

. “We just have to keep walking.” Max said moving forward. Avery rushed to walk along side him. He knew Brooks was out there with Coral. Brooks may have promised to not attack Max but Coral hadn't. Besides he wanted to be there in case Max tried to attack first. He couldn't believe how muddied everything for him had gotten recently. When he was little the supernatural world was all clearly black and white but now it was all in between an opaque mess of gray. Things weren't the way he was trained to believe, supernaturals weren't all completely bad, hunters weren't all completely good. He wasn't sure if he was completely sure if he fit either of those categories anymore. 

They continued walking around aimlessly. They would catch what they thought was a glimpse of blood but from so far away they couldn't be sure. Avery caught sight of the wolves several times as they walked. He could sense Coral’s anger, they had had so many chances to take out Max but Brooks kept his word. He kept his distance from the hunters and watched them. Well watched Avery to keep him safe. After a few hours of looking Roz decided it was time to head back to camp. Max didn't like that, he wanted to keep going. But if he really expected to be of any use finding his brother he needed to listen to Roz. She wanted to head back and rest for about an hour before sun down, they needed to eat as well. They were going to need all the energy they could get. The wendigoes knew where they were camped, and they were coming after Mike and Avery. She knew as soon as night hit, they were in for a whirlwind of a fight. They took a slightly different path back to camp, they figured the more they knew the layout of the forest the better off they would be in the long run. It was also another chance to find clues or Kit. They didn't find anything aside from the claw marks on the bottom of the tree trunks. They arrived at the edge of camp a couple of hours before sunset. Mike was sitting there waiting for them. Avery knew that she had already moved the herb since he could not feel the energy vibrating through the air. She waited until they were all back inside before discreetly putting it back without Max noticing. 

“What did you find?” Roz asked her. Mike handed her a few pages from one of her research books. 

“Not everything in there is essential for us so I highlighted what I thought would help us.” She answered. Roz flipped through the pages, there wasn't much highlighted on them. 

“Okay.” She handed them back to her. “Let's head back to camp where you can tell everyone what you found.” Mike hesitated. Roz looked at her awaiting an explanation.

“Well I was hoping Avery and I could check the perimeter first.” She looked at Avery. “I'll need him to show me where you all put the herbs.” She handed the pages back to Roz not braking eye contact. There was something she couldn't say out loud. Not in front of Max. Roz nodded.

“Let me know if anything comes up.” She looked straight at her brother. That was Roz code for, you better tell me what is going on soon, or else. Avery just nodded smiling. It was all he could really do, he wasn't sure why Mike wanted to be alone with him right now. “C’mon.” Roz lead Max away by the arm back to the others. Mike stood watching the until they were almost out of sight. She pulled another packet of sheets from the waistband of her pants. 

“What are those?” Avery asked. She smoothed them out a bit before turning back to him.

“Don't get mad.” She disclaimed. “But last night when you put me to sleep with your singing.” She thought for a seconds clutching to the papers. “That was weird.” Apparently she couldn't think of a better word. Avery just nodded in agreement, it was weird. “Anyways, even though I was asleep, I was in and out of it so I heard bits and pieces of what you and Brooks were talking about.” Avery shifted uneasily, he wasn't sure where this was going or what those papers were. 

“What exactly did you hear?” He asked. 

“About the music box and the way you and he affected each other.” She admitted. “I spent most of the time you were gone looking to see what you are.” She wasn't really looking at him. She was ashamed. By helping him she was going stray from all she was taught. 

“What I am?” He said. Put was a rhetorical question mostly to himself. 

“Don't worry Rei and I will help any way we can.” She handed him the papers. 

“Rei knows?” He asked shocked. “Oh god.” He couldn’t have too many know about this.

“He kept asking questions about what happened last night.” She defended. “I already felt bad enough for not telling him about the wolves. I don't lie to my brother.” He understood that. It wasn't a good feeling whenever he had to lie to Roz. He didn't like the looks of distrust she gave him, they had always trusted each other. It was him and her against the supernatural world. Now he might be part of the supernatural world. “Look what is important right now is to keep this from Max and Anna, they might be in our side right now but they'll turn on us as soon as they can.” He nodded placing his hand on her shoulder. They hadn't been friends for very long so he wasn't sure what an appropriate response was at this moment.

“Thanks.” He said. She pushed his hand away slowly and moved closer for a hug. It was a surprise to him but he returned it. They stood there awkwardly for a second afterward until she pointed to the papers. “Okay.” He took a deep breath opening them slowly. Whatever was in this papers could change his whole life, or worse destroy it. The first page was an illustration. It was a woman sitting on a large boulder by the sea. She was beautiful. Long dark hair to her waist contrasted the pale of her skin. A small golden harp in her hand, she looked like she was playing it. The bottom had one word on it. 

Siren.

He looked at Mike, she researched for hours and came up with this. Sirens were supposed to be female, at least he thought. She took the first paper away so he could read the rest. She had quite a bit of things highlighted. 

“Look,” She pointed to one of her highlighted areas. “It says here that they can sense the emotions of others. And until they learn to control them they themselves are affected. It's what happened to you with Brooks.” She pointed to the next part. “It says that they can manipulate the emotions of others using their song.” She looked at him. “It's what you did to me, you sang and my panic faded.” He didn’t know how he felt about manipulating others. “According to the book some sirens can use their voice to inflict pain.”

“I thought the whole siren song thing was just metaphor for their powers to lure people in?” It was what they had been taught in school. Sirens didn't really sing it was all a metaphor. 

“Sirens use the five senses to manipulate people.” Now Brooks’s theory about his heightened senses made more sense. “It says that when they get close enough to a person to manipulate them, they use their pheromones, our emotions affect the pheromones we emit from our bodies.” She showed him the next page. “They,” She stopped for a second. “You, can see them.”

“The dancing lights.” Avery whispered. “I was seeing your emotions?” He smiled at her. “I mean I saw your pheromones?” It was like pieces were falling into place. That's why the lights were all different colors, different emotions came across as different colors to him. She was happy to see him smile. She pointed to the next chunk of information. 

. “The music you heard.” She began again. “It's your powers awaking.” She was not happy about giving him what was coming. “When sirens come into their powers they hear it like music, it drives them crazy sometimes.” He didn't like statement. “See the harp,” she showed him the first page again. “It's not just an instrument to you, it's like a convergent of power. It helps you focus it. Your convergent is your music box.”

“It focuses my power?” He took it out of his pocket and looked at it, it didn't look very powerful.

“It’s kind of like a wizard’s wand.” She explained. “I mean since you found it at the motel have you had any major mood swing?” He shook his head. “Seen colors?” 

“Only when I fought with Kit.” Because Kit pissed him off beyond belief.

“What about your thing with Brooks?” She continued asking. “Before you found the box you couldn't be in the same room for too long, you spent the whole night with him sleeping next to each other and you were fine.” She was getting way too excited for Avery’s liking. But she was right, his attraction to Brooks hadn't lessened but his control was better than before without the box, no more boners was a good sign. “Without your convergent you could go crazy, your powers basically turn on you, and people’s emotions will overload your mind. That's why sirens are seen as bad in mythology, most of them had nothing to focus their power.”

“Okay all of that makes sense except the part where I just turned into a siren for no reason.” He looked through the pages. “How does one become a siren?”

“That's the thing Avery, you can't become a siren.” She sighed. “According to the book sirens are stagnant supernatural creatures not metamorphic.” He wasn't sure what she was trying to say. “Okay like wolves for example, if they bite you, you can become one, same with vampires and wendigoes that's metamorphic because the person changes into the creature.” He nodded that was easy enough. “Sirens are stagnant meaning they were always sirens and will always be sirens.” That didn't make sense, his powers should have appeared years ago if that was the case. “Sirens can only be born.” 

“But how? I mean I should have been going through this a long time ago.” Most born supernatural creatures come into their powers around puberty, for some it’s the first time their powers cause any trouble for them.

“The only thing I found about delaying powers was amulets. But they don't take them away, they keep them dormant until the item is broken or something.” Broken. Why did that word stand out? “A spell is put on an amulet and as long as you wear it your powers are bound.” As long as he wore it. 

His pendant. 

That's why his mother had thrown a fit when she found out he wasn't wearing it. “It was my family pendant.” He showed her the copy his sister gave him. “This all started when one of the ghouls broke the chain on my pendant and I lost it. My mom yelled at me, telling me that a replacement wouldn't do I had to wear THAT pendant. It was keeping my siren dormant.”

“Well, it woke up.” Mike said handing him the papers. “Now we have to find out how to hide it until we can figure out what to do next.”

“Well for now we focus on the wendigoes and finding Kit.” He started back towards camp. “Thanks Mike, I really owe you one.” He folded the papers and put them away in the inside pocket of his jacket.

“That's what friends are for right?” She asked following him. She was right, they were friends. More like best friends considering neither or them liked the other people they knew within their age range. Best friends by default. He had to laugh at that. 

Several minutes later all six hunters sat around their fire pit ready to discuss their battle plan. They were all waiting for Roz to speak, after all she had become the leader of the group. She wasn’t sure how she felt about being the leader. She was used to being a partner in crime to her brother, or a grunt to her parents’ hunts. She had no idea what she was doing, but she refused to let them know that. She turned to Mike.

“Can you please remind us of what we are dealing with,” She handed her back the pages on wendigoes that Mike had showed her earlier. “We need to know, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, any lore that you think would help us.” Mike nodded and stood up. 

“As you all know we are dealing with wendigoes.” She opened the pages. “Bites and scratches cannot turn you into one, a person becomes a wendigo after taking part in cannibalism. However it is unsure if a scratch or bite will turn you into anything supernatural. They crave human flesh desperately. The more they eat, the more they want it, it’s their punishment.” She moved her finger over the pages as she read. “Wendigoes are very fast, very strong, and very smart. They are essentially humans who cannot separate themselves from their primal urges. Most of our weapons do no harm to them, guns, knives, anything like that do no more than mere cosmetic damage. We can use those weapons to slow them down but that’s about it.” She turned to the next page. “Their only weaknesses are fire and viburnum herbs.” Fire was a purifier of anything supernatural just as deadly as viburnum was. “Mixing the two would be our best bet for survival...and of course decapitation."

“We don’t have any more viburnum.” Rei said holding out an empty bag. “We used it all to protect camp.”

“Then we take down the circle.” Roz spoke over him. “We have no choice.”

“We can each take one of my knives,” Avery opened his jacket and unstrapped the holster from his torso. “We can wrap some of the herbs around the blade.” Mike nodded in agreement.

“Viburnum burns them on contact.” She informed. “If we cut them and manage to get some of the herb inside their body, it could inflict enough pain for us to set them on fire, finally killing them.” Roz stood up nodding at Mike who took her cue to sit down.

“Rei and Anna have found a small system of caves about two hours directly north of here.” Anna stood up and held a map open next to Rei. He pointed to the opening of the cave. “The system is unmarked, most likely where the wendigoes live.” She motioned for Anna to sit again. “We need to try to lure the into their cave system before setting anything on fire. The last thing we need is a forest fire with all of us in the middle of it.” She was right, if they set the creatures on fire they could take off running in a frenzy catching small bushes on fire along the way. “Any questions so far?” The others all looked around but nobody asked anything. “Good, next thing we need to do is take down the circle of herbs.” She looked at her brother and pointed for him to follow. “Nobody goes anywhere alone.” Avery took two of the knives from his holster and handed the others to Mike. He followed his sister. “Let’s get the knives covered in herbs before it gets dark.” The two walked in silence to the edge of camp. Avery felt defenseless without his knives, he didn’t go anywhere without them. Not that it mattered, they were useless against wendigoes. Roz took her phone out and typed out a group text letting the others know that she was about to break the circle. She took the herb and began to break it apart. Avery felt the protection of the circle fade away. “Can you?” She asked holding out a piece of the herb. She was asking if he could touch the viburnum. He wasn’t sure. “I mean you couldn’t cross the circle so…” He took a deep breath and reach for the herb. His fingers felt weird. It didn’t hurt, but it was uncomfortable. It felt like his hand was falling asleep. 

“It feels like its numbing it but no pain.” He told her. He wiggled his fingers for her to see. 

“Just try not to cut yourself.” She warned. The way she spoke to him was different. Distrusting. She was saying things she usually said but there was no emotion behind them. She knew he was keeping something from her. Did she think that he was going to turn on them?

“I’m a siren.” He blurted out. She stopped messing with the herbs and looked at him.

“What?” He wasn’t making any sense.

“The reason why I’ve been acting weird lately is because I’m a siren.” He took out the papers Mike had given him. “Mom and Dad know what I am.” He explained. She took the papers and looked through them. “It’s why she freaked when I lost my pendant, they put some spell on it to keep my siren dormant.”

“It woke up when you lost it?” She continued reading the pages. 

“Yeah,” He answered. He could see the tension in her body relax away. She believed him, she wasn’t even questioning him. It felt good to know his sister was still on his side. “I thought I was going crazy but it was just my powers activating all at once.” She nodded.

“Well sirens are stagnant creatures.” She said. “So viburnum won’t kill you because you were born naturally, not turned.” She handed the papers back to him. “You basically have a minor allergy to it.” 

“Want to see my harp?” He asked. He showed her the music box. She took it laughing. 

“This is what’s keeping you from going crazy?” She asked. “Its cute.” He took it back.

“It is not cute,” He laughed. “I’m a deadly siren, the muse of the underworld.” 

“With your little music box.” She teased. They stood smiling at each other for a second. “Thank you for telling me.” She said a bit more seriously. She pulled him into a hug. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

“Let’s just do this.” He answered showing her the herbs. “But we are still taking that vacation you promised me.” She smiled and began wrapping the bottom half of both the knives with the viburnum. They needed to keep the top half sharp to cut the wendigoes so the herb could make it into the wound. They checked the nearby area and took all of the herbs that they could in their pockets. Roz stopped walking looking out into the woods. She saw something moving in the bushes a few yards ahead. She reached for her gun moving as slowly as possible. “Roz?” Her brother asked quietly. He searched through the area in front of them and saw nothing.

“There is something there.” She had her gun out steady. Avery caught the scent, sandalwood. Brooks. 

“Wait, Roz.” He stepped in front of his sister. “It’s not one of the wendigoes.” He turned to face the woods. He saw movement. Roz moved her gun aiming it at the thing in the bushes. “Roz wait!” Avery moved forwards slowly. 

“Avery get back here now!” She ordered. It wasn’t dark yet, it wasn’t a wendigo. Brooks had said he would make sure to be unseen by the other hunters. Why was he so close to the edge of camp?

“Brooks.” Avery called out. No answer. “Brooks!” 

“Brooks?” His sister asked. “The guy from the city?” She kept her gun out. “What the hell would he be doing out here?”

“Just calm down, put the gun away.” Her brother asked. She shook her head. “Brooks what are you doing so close to camp?” They saw a large figure stand a few yards away. Avery sighed relieved. 

“Avery, what the hell is he doing here?” His sister asked, she still kept her gun out.   
“He’s umm…watching us for protection.” Avery half explained.

“What could he do against a wendigo?”

“He’s a,” Avery stopped and looked at the wolf, he wasn’t sure if he should continue. Brooks nodded moving forward. “He’s a werewolf.” Roz looked between the two guys. “Roz, he and his cousin are the only reason Mike and I survived the night in the woods.” He put his hand on her gun and lowered it. “He’s here to help us.”

“Why didn’t you tell us he was a wolf back in the city?” She was angry, he could tell. 

“He didn’t know then.” Brooks explained. Avery stopped him from moving closer by standing in front of him. Brooks moved a step closer until he was a few inches from Avery’s back. He had spent all day away from him, watching him, making sure he was safe but being this close to him again was better. Roz noticed how close Brooks was standing to her brother. It made her uneasy but she could tell Brooks meant him no harm.

“I didn’t know until last night.” He stopped and looked around. “Where is Coral?” He asked. 

“I sent her to watch over Mike and her brother.” Brooks explained. “The others can fend for themselves.” His face turned sour when he said the second statement. Roz caught the change in his attitude.

“They don’t really like the Battalignas.” He explained to his sister. “That’s the reason that they were out here in the first place.” Maybe he could have kept that part to himself. Roz narrowed her eyes at the wolf.

“If you touch either of them…” She started.

“I’m not going to hurt either of them.” Brooks interrupted speaking louder. “I promised him.” He nodded towards Avery. 

“Not unless they hurt him first.” Avery explained. “Self-defense is okay.” He looked at his sister waiting for her to react. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Roz asked putting her gun back under her jacket. 

“Well he was supposed to stay far enough away that we wouldn’t see him.” Avery half nagged at Brooks. “But he decided to pay a visit instead.” Roz was more intrigued in finding out what was going on between the two. “Look wolves have the speed and strength to help us fight them off.”

“I came because they left their nest.” Brooks said. The two hunters turned to him. Avery took a step back, he wasn’t aware how close Brooks was to him. “The wendigoes left their nest, we saw several running around about an hour ago. I had sent Coral to check the nest and it was empty.”

“Their headed this way.” Roz said to herself.

“Text the others.” Avery told her. “We need to get back to camp and regroup.” Roz pulled out her phone and started typing. 

They heard a gunshot boom from camp.


	12. Charred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos ensues at camp. The hunters decide to take matters into their hands and hunt down the wendigoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anybody is actually reading this. But if anyone is, feedback would be great. I am aware of the misspellings, change of pov, and some name changes. I want to know what you think of the story and characters themselves. I want to continue developing the story into an actual book(I will be fleshing it out with more details of course) but any ideas or suggestions you. Have would be great. Thanks.

Chapter 12: Charred

Not one of the hunters was prepared to deal with how quickly things were going downhill. The Bishops sibling and Brooks arrived to see blood splattered on the floor. Anna lay on the ground face down trying to push herself over. She was shivering and grunting in pain. Roz ran to help her. Avery was the first to notice Max wrestling with one of the wendigoes on the other side of the tents. He drew his viburnum covered knife and ran to help him. Everything was happening too fast and too slow at the same time. Avery could feel the surge of emotions swirling around the camp. He didn’t get to Max, he was tackled to the floor. He landed on his back pain shooting through his injured hand. The wendigo that tackled him was quick to climb on top of him straddling him. Its arm was mangled, purple and black covered its maimed limb. 

“Avery!” His sister shouted moving towards him.

“Help Anna!” He ordered. Max was not injured, so the blood wasn't his. He knew the blood was from Anna, she needed Roz more than he did at the moment. The wendigo swung at him with its good arm. Avery lifted his knife just enough to graze its waifish bicep. It shrieked in pain the second the blade made contact with its skin. Avery pushed the blade forward until the herbs on it pushed through the wound. Instantly the herb began burning into its skin. The wendigo fell back pulling its arm away from the knife. The wound was spreading, black charred skin was left behind sizzling away. Brooks roared from behind the wendigo digging his claws into its shoulders. The wendigo thrashed in pain as he dragged it away from the hunter.  
Roz tried to remain calm with all of the violence going on around her. She had to focus on Anna while being aware of the third wendigo, it could attack her, and without her focus both she and Anna were dead. Anna was half way there. She had a large gash on her lower abdomen and she was bleeding profusely. She needed to stop the bleeding. She had taken her jacket off and used it to put pressure on her wound. 

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” She repeated to herself. She was watching the area around them, Mike and Rei have had to have heard the gun shot too. If they arrived they could help by getting her the medical supplies in the tent. Anna was breathing hard and shaking lightly, she was sure it was from the loss of blood. If she didn’t get Anna the required attention soon she wouldn’t make it out of the woods. 

Brooks slashed at the wendigo repeatedly. It helped that Avery had already weakened it with the viburnum. The wendigo was disoriented and getting worse. Avery was already moving to the other wendigo. Max was holding it off by jamming the gun into its mouth. The wendigo swung at him but only managed to leave minor slashes on his leather jacket. Avery jammed his knife into its shoulder as far as he could. He felt the blade break through bones as he pushed. The monster howled in pain. He saw something run past him towards Brooks. Coral. The stab wound on the wendigo’s shoulder was charring up quickly and spreading. The monster arched back in pain giving Max the chance to crawl out from underneath it. He aimed the gun directly at the wendigo’s face. 

“Clear!” Max shouted to Avery. Avery side stepped pulling his knife out. The wendigo thrashed angrily. Max shot at the monster. The bullet ripped off its jaw. Both hunters couldn’t help but flinch at the sight. 

“Guys!” Roz called out to the boys. “I really need help here.” The bleeding wasn’t slowing down. “Where the hell are Mike and Rei?” The color in Anna's face was starting to fade.

“Right here!” Mike said running up to her. Her brother was a step behind her. The sleeve of his jacket was torn. “We were attacked by the other one.” She stopped in her tracks when she saw Anna’s condition. Things were getting too real too fast.

“Mike!” Roz yelled. “Medical supplies now!” Mike snapped out of her shock and ran straight to the tents where they kept everything. There was a large hole on the side of one. She looked inside to find it empty. 

“There’s nothing in here?” She yelled to her brother. Rei was looking into the other tent. 

“Empty too.” He informed. 

“They,” Anna struggled to talk. “They took them.” Roz hushed her, she needed to keep her energy. 

“We’re gonna have to use what we have.” Roz said. Rei and Mike came over with the sleeping bags they had slept on. 

Max used the butt of his riffle to slam the wendigo down. Avery stabbed his knife through its skull. Its head charred up quickly like the others and it died on the ground. The two stood and watched the creature’s head crumble into dark husk.

“Let’s get the other.” Avery said pulling Max with him towards the other. They were stopped when they heard the loud crunching. Coral stood in front of them with the other wendigo’s head in her hands. Its face was slashed up to a bloody mess exposing the bones underneath. She tossed it away from the group and they watched it roll a few feet until it got lost in the bushes. Brooks was breathing heavily, his eyes glowing with anger. Avery could feel his emotions wafting through the area around them. The hunters’ eyes were on what was left of the wendigo. They knew wolves were strong but knowing and seeing is two different things. Brooks let the lifeless body drop to the ground. Blood spilled from it like a small fountain. “Holy shit.” Avery said. Brooks’s glazed over eyes turned to him, the glowing stopped when he finally focused on Avery. He looked at his arms and began wiping the wendigo blood off as best as he could. Avery had to take a second to refocus his mind, the emotional overload was fogging his thinking.

“Guys we need help.” Roz called out to the other hunter. They pulled away from the awe the wolves had on them and ran to her. She led them all through the process of getting Anna on a blanket and moving her without hurting her further. Coral and Brooks watched from a few yards away. The hunters lifted her as a team and moved her slowly into the one tent that was still intact. They knew enough about first aid to get her patched up, but they also knew that if she didn’t get real medical help she’d die. Anna moaned when they set her down. She was starting to look deathly pale. She had lost a lot of blood, stopping the bleeding was the most important thing. The tent was getting too crowded to focus so Roz and Rei made the younger three leave. The three decided to search around camp for any supplies that may have been left behind.

“How did they get our supplies?” Mike asked walking back towards the tent. “I mean there was two of them attacking here, and one attacked Rei and I.”

“Sorry I left you.” Coral said. 

“My brother and I managed to fight it off.” Mike responded. “We didn’t kill it but hurt it badly.”

“That’s three,” Avery started. “There must be more than three of them.”

“Coral and I can help you track them down to get her medical supplies.” Brooks offered stepping closer to Avery. He reached to move the hair out of his face but stopped when he saw the blood still covering them.

“Who the hell are they?” Max asked pointing to the wolves. He moved closer and reached for his riffle. 

“They’re here to help.” Avery said standing in between them. Mike moved in front of Coral. Coral thought it comical for the much smaller girl to try to protect her but she appreciated. They may have been Hunter but she had to respect how gutsy Avery and Mike were.

“They’re wolves.” Max spit back. 

“They just killed one of the wendigoes,” Avery reminded. He could feel the vibration from Brooks’s low growl on his back. “They’ve been watching us all day, protecting us.”

“Not him.” Brooks growled behind him. Avery shushed him by grabbing his wrist. 

“Max, right now we need all the help we can get.” Mike said. “Anna is in there injured because of you! Kit is missing! There are things out there that want us dead!”

“Mike calm down.” Avery said softly. The last thing they needed was for emotions to run high. “If you try to hurt them they have permission to defend themselves.” He turned to look at the wolves. “They’ve agreed to put their hate for you and your family aside to help us, and Roz expects you to do the same.”

“We can help you find your brother.” Brooks gritted through his teeth. The idea alone made him feel sick. Coral wasn’t any happier with her cousin’s decision but, he was the leader of their tiny pack and what he said was law to her. Avery himself was shocked at hearing what Brooks said, he wasn’t expecting it. Max fought with his urges to fight with anything that didn’t belong to the natural world. He hated to admit it but wolves would find his brother much faster with their heightened senses. He nodded. His jaw clenched, he was going against everything he had been taught to do. Regardless it didn’t change the fact that he wanted his brother back and Anna needed medical attention. The group stood around silently waiting for word from Roz and Rei. Brooks looked over the bruises on Avery’s hand, they were fading quickly. Avery’s supernatural powers must have been kicking in. Brooks didn’t know much about sirens but he knew that they could heal faster than humans. Avery was coming into his powers faster than he expected. The wolf part of him was proud of the younger man, as if he was one of his pack. The human side of him admired how well Avery seemed to be handling everything. All of the things he was dealing with the past few days would be enough to break any person, but Avery was fighting through it. Then again not every person had the training that he and his friends had. After several minutes Roz finally exits the tent. She didn’t try to hide the somberness on her face. The others knew things were about to get worse. She took a few steps away from the tent and the other gathered around her. 

“We stopped the bleeding but she’s in bad shape.” She whispered. Her face looked pale, she hadn’t completely wiped the blood off of her hands. “There is no way we will be able to get her back to our cars and into a hospital, she won’t make it.” Not to mention if they were attacked again they might lose others. She thought for a second. She was debating with herself on what to do next. The sun was already gone, there was no way that they could carry her for six hours through the dark without putting Anna in worse condition. She wiped off more of the blood on her jeans and picked up all the pieces of map she could find. “We need to find the wendigoes’ cave system and get the medical supplies back. If we properly take care of her wound and medicate her enough, we can keep her alive till sunrise to get her help.” She turned to the wolves and handed them the pieces of map. Brooks tried to piece the map together. “We need to find this place, it’s most likely where they are keeping our stuff.”

“We can get you there.” Brooks said reading the map. “It’s about an hour and a half walk.” He took out a pen and drew a route as best as he could. Some parts of it were not even marked roads. “If it is where they are keeping their nest then we should be able to save her.” Roz nodded appreciatively. 

“We need to get going as soon as possible,” She started. Screaming started in the distance. It was the same blood curdling scream that Avery and Mike had heard the night before. 

“That’s not Kit.” Brooks whispered to Avery. It was too late Max had already taken off after the sound. 

“Max! Wait!” Avery took a hold of Brooks’s hand and started chasing after the other hunter. Coral followed close behind them. Roz took a deep breath and started after them. 

“Wait what about Rei?” Mike asked, she wasn’t going to leave her brother alone. 

“We made a small viburnum circle inside the tent.” Roz responded still running. “C’mon we’ll need all the help we can get.” Mike looked back at the tent and saw Rei peeking out. She really didn’t want to leave him to take care of Anna alone. 

“Go Micheleen.” He said calmly. “I’ll be fine. I won’t leave the circle.” He didn’t wait for a response and closed the tent back up. She could still see Roz’s silhouette in yards into the woods. Mike started chasing the others. Being alone outside of the circle made her the most vulnerable at the moment. It didn’t take her long to catch up to Roz. They could still hear the screaming, it was getting closer. It didn’t matter what the wolves said to them to the hunters it sounded real. Max was convinced what he was hearing was his little brother, and he was getting him back. Avery and the two wolves were one step behind him. They had been sprinting for a few minutes now, Avery had stopped asking him to stop a while back. He seemed to be more focused on making sure the area they were running to was clear. The screaming stopped. Avery didn’t manage to stop fast enough and ended up running directly into Max. The two tumbled to the floor in a tangle or limbs. Mike and Roz arrived several seconds later.

“Get off of me.” Max said pushing Avery away. 

“What the hell did you think you were doing running out here like an idiot?!” Roz yelled at Max. She reached down helping her brother up. 

“Kit is still alive.” Max defended. He dusted himself off. “I’m trying to save him.”

“We all are!” She said. “But we need to stay together! Unless you want to end up like Anna!” Avery pulled Roz away from Max, he had never seen her this angry before. Everyone was under a lot of stress, but when it all ended Roz was the one responsible for giving answers to what happened. Kit’s disappearance and Anna’s injury was already too much strain on her, the last thing they needed was someone else getting hurt. Avery stood in between them, cutting off eye contact was usually enough to cool people off. 

“Everyone take a deep breath.” He said as calmly as he could. “Look we are all on edge.” He explained. “But the reality is that these things are chipping away at us as a group. We need to stay together physically, and mentally.” He looked directly at Max. “We are no longer under the protection of the viburnum, and we pissed off this thing, it’s going to play mind game with us.” He pointed to Brooks. “Brooks said it wasn’t Kit.”

“Wolves can hear the subtle difference in the wendigoes hoarser voices.” The wolf explained. “They used to be humans so they have the ability to imitate but they don’t use speech from day to day so it’s not a finessed as people speaking.” Max rolled his eyes. Avery leered at him he was getting tired of the Battalignas screwing everything up.

“We…are…staying…as…a…group.” Avery proclaimed angrily he spoke each word singularly moving closer to him. “Do you understand?” His voice was low and rumbled through his chest. He didn’t like using intimidation to make things go his way but macho-bullshit was the only thing the Battalignas seemed to understand. Max kept his eyes directly on Avery’s. “Do…you…understand!” He shouted in his face. Max flinched. He recovered quickly and nodded angrily. “Say it.” The taller hunter demanded. Max sighed stepping in place. Avery wasn’t stopping until Max fully submitted to him. The wolf part of Brooks must have been rubbing off on him. “Say it!” 

“We are staying as a group.” He repeated quietly. He wasn’t exactly crestfallen but it was enough for Avery to move on. He turned back to his sister and nodded. 

“Okay.” Roz said moving into the center of the semicircle the group was making. “We need to move forward.” She turned to the wolves. “Can you please lead us to the cave system?” She asked. Coral nodded. “Thank you.” She turned to the others. “If you hear any screaming or voices in general we will not move until we get voice recognition from the wolves.” 

“Mike!” Rei bellowed from the direction of camp. He sounded desperate and in pain. “Help!” He called out his voice breaking. The others looked to their leader not sure how to react. Roz stood motionless, she knew it was most likely a wendigo. It still didn’t change the overwhelming need to check on Rei. Mike was the first to turn to Coral waiting for the wolf to diagnose the voice she heard. 

“So?” She demanded, she was already taking a step back towards camp. Every part of her needed to make sure her brother was safe. Coral pulled her back by her arm. Being stopped made Mike’s anxiety rise.

“It’s not him.” Coral whispered. She held on tight to the hunter, she knew how realistic it sounded to her. “Try to block it out.” She could feel Mike’s heart pounding rapidly. “It’s not him.” She repeated louder. She needed to make sure that they all knew. Avery was holding on to his sister who had her eyes closed mumbling to herself. 

“Let’s move forward.” Brooks said, it was best to get to the cave as fast as possible. Hearing a loved one’s voice coming out of a horrid looking monster is not as convincing. He turned sniffing the air. The scent of charred skin was present but it was faint. “This way.” Avery pulled his sister with him following the wolf. Coral waited until Max moved to pull Mike with her. The screaming continued in the background. It followed them, it wasn’t getting softer as they moved away from camp. Half an hour into walking they began hearing Kit screaming again. Max ran for a split second but caught himself. Roz saw him moving forward hesitantly. She pulled herself away from her brother. Roz took Max’s hand, something she never thought she would do.

“It’s not him.” Roz reminded him quietly. She forced herself to stop thinking about Rei and focused on Max. “They are playing mind games with us.” It was easier for that fact to seep into her mind when she was forced to convince someone else of it. “Look at me.” She demanded. He had been looking at the ground the whole time. Tears were starting to well in his eyes. “We will get through this together.” It was the first time she had ever seen him show any emotion besides insolence. He nodded still upset. “C’mon.” She didn’t let go of his hand as she led him following Brooks. He followed closely to her like a scared child. Avery couldn’t help but wonder how these kids managed to make the deadly dozen ranking. But then again he didn’t know how he would react if it was his sister who was missing. Part of him wanted to gloat at the fact that the Battalignas were nothing but talk when it came to real world hunting but right now was not the time. Avery walked shoulder to shoulder with Brooks. He held on to him for the majority of the walk. Brooks smiled about that, only because he was pretty sure Avery couldn’t see his face too well. It was pitch black and Avery needed to save his flashlight batteries for when they entered the cave. The wendigoes had stolen the batteries with the rest of their supplies, He figured that Brooks wouldn’t let him walk into any uplifted roots or big rocks. Roz had the only other flashlight left and she could really only illuminate the area in front of her and Max. Coral led Mike through the darkness. After a few more minutes of walking the screaming was starting to feel like background noise. The hunters were more focused on trying not to fall than listening to the things emitting the bone chilling screams. 

“We should be coming up on the opening in like ten minutes.” Brooks said to the group. 

“I though you said it would be like an hour and a half walk?” Avery asked. “It’s hasn’t even been an hour.”

“Well we ran at full speed for like three miles,” Coral said from the back of the group. She glared at Max. “Chasing someone.” She finished her statement. 

“Whatever.” Roz snapped back. “We can get back to camp and help Anna faster.” They kept walking in silence for a few more seconds when the screaming stopped. They weren’t sure whether they should be thankful or scared. Thankful that it was quiet again. Scared that the silence meant the wendigoes knew that they were near. Avery drew his knife again and the others followed suit. Brooks squeezed his hand to get his attention. The wolf nodded to an area a few yard away. It was the cave opening. It was unnerving seeing the big aperture leading into someplace darker than the woods they were already in. 

“We’re here.” Avery said to the others. They gathered together moving in a group. If they were going to be attacked by the wendigoes this would be the perfect time. 

“I’ll go down first.” Coral volunteered. “Brooks will go down last.” Roz offered her the flashlight but the wolf just shook her head. “I’ll be fine.” She said looking down into the gaping hole. It didn’t look very steep or deep, but then again humans didn’t have the same capabilities she and her cousin had. The hunters watched as the wolf lowered herself slowly disappearing into the shadows. Avery saw Brooks cover his mouth and squinting his eyes.

“What's wrong?” The hunter asked. The wolf seemed disgusted at something. He heard Coral half shout something from within the cave. Roz took a deep breath and began lowering herself. She was halfway down when she gasped in horror. Avery moved to help her.

“It’s just me Roz.” Coral said. “I was trying to give you something to help you down.” Roz sighed and continued to lower herself. Brooks was still making horrid faces.

“Seriously what’s wrong?” Avery asked again.

“This place reeks.” The wolf said nasally, he was holding his breath. “It’s strong and I can’t block it out.” Avery searched his person for a handkerchief. He always carried one with him. 

“Here.” He handed it to Brooks. It was a pastel green color with his initials engraved in a darker shade. “I mean it’s got my sweat but it might be better than whatever is down there.” The wolf smiled feeling the soft fabric in his hands.

“Thanks.” He tied it so that it covered his mouth. It smelled like Avery, well his sweat but it was still very much Avery’s scent. It didn’t completely cover the stench of blood and rotten flesh but it helped. Brooks had no idea how Coral managed to be down there without gagging nonstop. Mike had already climbed down by the time the two turned back to the cave. Avery could see a light down in the cave, it must have been Roz’s. He aimed the light down as Max lowered himself. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes when he saw Coral refuse to help the hunter down. It took him a minute but he managed without the help. 

“My turn.” Avery said. He tossed his flashlight down to Max and crouched down to plan his scale down. He turned and found footing as he lowered himself. He looked up to see Brooks watching over his every move. It would have looked menacing normally but with the delicate handkerchief on his face it was more comical. “You look so pretty.” The hunter teased at the wolf laughing. He could hear the wolf’s muffled laugh beneath the fabric. He felt Coral grab his legs from beneath him to help. Someone else held on to his knees and lowered him to the floor of the cave opening. Max handed him his flashlight back. Avery used it to look around the opening looked normal, he assumed, he had never actually been inside a legitimate cave. He heard something hit the ground and turned to see the Brooks had jumped in. Show off. He noticed that Coral was wearing Mike’s handkerchief over her mouth, maybe she couldn’t block it out like Brooks assumed. He himself still couldn’t smell anything as putrid as the wolves apparently had. 

“This way.” Brooks said brushing past him. The opening led to long connection to another cave. They walked slowly looking around. This cave system was on the map but there was no maps of the system itself. They had to be careful there was no way to tell what was coming to them at each turn of the cave. It was cold inside the caves. It wasn't surprising to the hunters since it was night and probably water somewhere deeper in the system. Avery noticed scratches on the walls every now and then. They were the scratches like the ones they had seen on the tree trunks outside. There was no doubt in his mind that this was where the wendigoes resided. The scratches had to be their territorial markings. Brooks led them into a much larger open cave. The moment Avery stepped into it he knew something about it was off. Aside from the smell. There was something dreadful and suffocating about the atmosphere inside. The others didn't seem to be too bothered it, but Avery kept getting constant shivers. Horrible things had happened in this cave. His siren must have been picking up the emotions that once ran through the system. The cave made his eyes sting from the stench, it was the only thing that the others noticed. It felt like the inside of his nose was melting. All he wanted to do was turn back and leave, fresh air seemed like a delicacy at that point. The group continued moving all trying to hold their breaths but it still wasn't enough. Avery felt bad for the wolves, they must have been smelling the stench multiple times worse. He held on to the wall as best as he could for balance, there was some thing wrong with the floor. The floor. The floor was unstable and brittle. He aimed his flashlight at it revealing the dozens of bones littering the ground. Probably where the majority of the stench wafted from. They were in the middle of a graveyard, the shivers made sense now. He moved around looking for a clear area. Part of him was disgusted at the situation but the other part of him didn't want to step on pieces of human beings out of respect for them. The other hunters did the same huddling close to him trying to avoid the bones. Some bones were white and dry but a few looked freshand smeared with blood. They could have belonged to Noah and Logan. Or Kit. He pushed that thought out of his mind, Kit wasn't dead until they found him dead. Roz let out a small gasp when she aimed her light at the walls. They were smeared in blood from top to bottom. As hunters they were used to blood, but not in this quantity. The blood reflecting the light bathed everything in the room in a crimson shade of disgust. They had never really seen anything like this. Not much was known about wendigoes aside from their hunting methods. The way they lived and survived was mostly a secret since not a lot of people survived wendigo encounters. The young group of hunters was in uncharted waters. There was really no guarantee that all of them-if any- were going to survive. They were all thankful for the werewolves at their side. They were startled by a screech from the only other opening to the large cave. They sat motionless waiting for the oncoming attack. Brooks had a hard time focusing on the screech, it was overpowered by the drumming of the hunters’s hearts racing. He didn't blame them, even he was scared of going up against the wendigoes. Dispite the fear he was not about to let Avery face them alone. The group sat still not one of them dared to move. Nothing. After a minute of complete silence Roz motioned for Brooks to continue moving deeper into the system. An attack was coming to them sooner or later. They needed a large open area in order to have a chance at survival. If they could manage to lead the wendigoes outside instead it would be better. Brooks led them through the opening and into the next section of the cave system. The cave they entered into was another long corridor. They had to move slowly because the floor was angled down. Several times Avery and Brooks had to crouch down to avoid hitting the roof. Brooks stopped after a small walk. He pointed to a small ditch in the ground. It wasn’t too deep but enough for someone to get hurt. Brooks jumped over it and turned to the others. One by one the others jumped over the ditch and continued moving towards the other end of the corridor. There was several more ditches that they had to cross. Avery started to shiver again but not because of his powers. The temperature was dropping steadily as they walked down. “I can hear water.” Brooks said to Avery reaching the end of the corridor. “It’s not near us.” He stepped into the cave. “But it’s definitely there.” The cave they stepped into was even bigger than the last. There was no way to tell how deep into the ground the group had gone but it had to be quite deep to accommodate the size of the cave they were in.

“Whoa.” Avery was left speechless at the size of the cave. It was gigantic compared to the others they had been in. He looked around with his flashlight, the cave was so big the light really didn’t do much illuminating. He moved out of the entrance to let the others in. “Our supplies.” He said walking to the center of the room. There was a large pile of camping items. It was much more supplies than what they had brought. It was a mixture of their things and the things other campers who had fallen victim to the wendigoes had left behind. Even if they couldn't find their things there had to be something they could use as weapons. “Can you hear any of them near?” He asked Brooks. Brooks shook his head. “We need to dig through all this, please keep watch if anything comes at us.” He didn’t wait for the wolf to respond and began to move things around looking for anything that might have been theirs. Roz and Mike ran over and started doing the same. 

“Found a flare.” Mike warned the others as she turned the top off of it. The area around her was lit up in a bright reddish light. The wolves blinked several times trying to get their eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. The one flare wasn’t enough. “Lighting another.” She warned again. She threw the second one to the other end of the cave. There was a few more but she stashed them into her clothing, they might need them later. The second flare revealed a group of openings at the other end of the cave. Brooks sniffed the air at each opening trying to decide which way they would go.

“Ave.” Roz called from the top of the pile. He looked up to see her holding up his bow and arrow set. 

“Thank god.” Avery said making grabby hands at her. She tossed the bow first and let the bag of arrows fall a few feet from the bottom of the pile. “I can use these to slow them down.” He started unfolding the bow and setting up. He pulled on the string to test the tension. He opened the bag of arrows and counted them. 

“Take it up a notch.” His sister said tossing him a bottle of lighter fluid. “Burn us some wendigoes.” She smiled. He nodded and started ripping the nearest bag he could find into shreds. He tied the shreds to the tip of the arrows and doused them in lighter fluid. 

“Anybody got a lighter?” Avery asked looking around the room. Max handed him a zippo. “Awesome.” Avery smiled at Brooks. “How’s wendigo watching going?” He asked the wolves. Both wolves shook their heads. They still had some time.

“I got medicals here.” Roz said pulling a bag out from underneath a bunch of other things. She set it near the entrance of the cave that they came in from. “Let’s look for more of our weapons.” She returned to the pile of supplies on the ground and moving things. 

“There is at least one of them heading this way.” Brooks said. “We have to move things along a bit quicker.”

“If one sees us, it will call the others.” Coral said. Avery used his flashlight to search the walls of the cave. He found a small ledge about ten feet off the ground. 

“Max, Coral please help me get up there.” He showed them the ledge. “It’ll be a great spot to sniper them out.” He strapped the bag of arrows over his shoulder and hung the bow over his neck. “I need you two to cheerleader my up there.” Max and Coral kneeled down and held their hands out to lift him. He lifted himself up once he reached the ledge. He moved back as far as he could into the shadows and prepared his weapon. He saw something glimmer from the top of the pile. He recognized the slim chain. It was pretty and feminine but razor sharp and deadly, just like his sister. “Roz.” He called his sister pointing to the shiny object at the top. Roz climbed the supplies and grabbed the thing her younger brother was showing her. 

“My silver chain.” She wrapped it around her wrist and continued to dig through the pile. Brooks looked around confused. 

“What?” Mike asked pushing a bag of clothing out of her way. 

“Incoming.” He said moving backwards. “It sounds like two.” The hunters moved closer to each other. 

“Everybody ready?” Roz asked. Mike nodded pulling out her knife. She had her throwing stars under her jacket. Max nodded, the sooner they cleared out the cave system the quicker they could find his brother. He attached the silencer to his gun. Roz nodded to Brooks. “Call them.” She ordered. They would either wait to be ambushed or they could let the wendigoes know where they were and fight them off as they came at them. The wolf turned to the nearest opening on the wall. Avery could see Brooks take a deep breath. He could see the muscles on his back shifting with his movement. Brooks roared as loud as he could. His bellow travelled through every cave in the system. The hunters could feel his voice travel through the caverns. The walls vibrated with tension of the wolf’s call. Even after he had stopped making any noise his roar continued to echo. 

“Damn.” Avery whispered to himself. Brooks looked back winking at the hunter. The wolf part of him was jumping with joy at impressing the siren it was attracted to. Avery shook his head laughing at the way the wolf’s chest puffed out in pride. Brooks’s roar was met with several high pitched spine chilling screeches. 

The wendigoes were coming.


	13. Chapter 13 Bloodbath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wendigoes arrive. The hunters and wolves prepare for a bloodbath.

Chapter 13: Bloodbath

 

It was hard to distinguish which direction the screeching was coming from. The cave had several openings leading out, four to be exact, it could be any of them. Both wolves sat still using their heightened senses to pinpoint where the attack would come from. Mike, Roz, and Max stood close enough to hold hands but far enough to fight without hurting each other. In order to survive they would need to work as a group to the best of their abilities. Avery tried to stay in the shadows as best as he could waiting for the creatures to show up. He was hoping to be the secret weapon that the wendigoes didn't see coming. The screeching grew louder with every second. The sound of their claws scratching the surface of the cave projected throughout the system. Avery took slow steady breaths, the emotions in the room were about to sky rocket, he needed to try to keep his powers at bay. The first wendigo came rushing in from the opening farthest from the entrance, the one that they had entered from. It came directly for Brooks tackling him into the wall. Brooks’s growl resonated through the walls. Avery started to light his first arrow. The others didn’t have time to react before two more came out of the entrance they had used. One of them had some charred skin on its abdomen. Mike recognized it as the one that attacked her and Rei earlier that night. She moved towards it ready to finish what she had started. Coral was immediately on top of the other. She used her body weight to push the wendigo into the wall as hard as she could. Roz ran to help Mike. She used her knife to slash at its wounded side. The viburnum covered knife sliced into the wendigoes skin like it was a thin piece of paper. It shrieked in pain as its skin continued to char up. The new wound only seemed to piss it off. It slashed at Roz forcing her to take a step back to avoid it. Mike stepped forward jabbing her knife directly in front of her. The knife sunk into the ribs of the wendigo directly beneath its arm. The wendigo threw its head back screaming in pain. It was loud and painful, Mike had to hold herself back from covering her ears. If she did then she would be giving the wendigo an opening to attack her.

Brooks howled in pain when the wendigo ripped through his bicep. The blood in his arm didn’t have much of a chance to flow out before his skin started to heal itself. There was several rips on his shirt from where the wendigo had slashed at him before. From the ledge Avery prepared to launch his first arrow. The fire was bright and hot, he was sure it would inflict some pain. He straightened his arm and pulled the arrow and string back, his eyes focused on the wendigo slashing at the werewolf. He exhaled slowly to steady himself and released the arrow. He literally heard the arrow whoosh away from him and towards the creature.. The arrow shot directly through the calf of the creature and into the ground. It cried in pain throwing its head back. Brooks took his chance to slash at its throat but it moved back quickly and he caught its shoulder. The hunter ignited the next arrow and looked for his next sniper target. Another wendigo climbed into the cavern from the same opening where the first one came in. It snarled in Brook’s direction but was distracted when a bullet whirred by its face. The bullet continued through the door and to wherever the opening led to. The group heard it hit the wall somewhere in the darkness and ricochet somewhere even further. The new wendigo turned to Max who was still aiming his gun at its face.

“If you’re gonna shoot a damn gun in a cave!” Roz yelled pushing herself up from the ground. “Make sure you get the damn thing!” She kicked the wendigo she and Mike were fighting. It wasn’t really fighting if they were just stabbing it repeatedly while it pushed them down. Avery would have laughed at how comedic the sight was…if it wasn't for the threat of death. The wendigo was getting weaker as they fought, the charred flesh covering most of its body. “Bullets can ricochet!” She continued. Max didn’t have a chance to snap back at her because the wendigo started stalking towards him. He threw his gun into the pile of supplies and drew his knife. He hated to admit it but Roz was right, he had a better chance of hurting someone who wasn’t the wendigo with a stray bullet. The creature towered over the young hunter. He tried not let it know he was intimidated but, he was sure it could smell the fear in him regardless. The wendigo moved closer to him snarling, turning its head from side to side like a bird of prey. It moved closer and closer cornering him up against the wall. It opened its mouth hissing quietly at him. He lifted his knife but it used its gangly hand to hold his against the wall by the wrist. The hissings turned into guttural noises. 

“Help.” It was using Kit’s voice. Max could feel his heart going into overdrive. He wanted to scream, it sounded so real. “Help me.” It whispered in his ear. Even though he could see the creature speaking, hearing Kit made him want to breakdown. Had he been hearing this thing shout to him the whole time? The reality of his brother being dead hit him hard. Wendigoes knew how to play with their mind. They weren’t hunting him and others for survival they were hunting them for entertainment. Max turned away trying to ignore the sound of his brother’s voice. “Max! Help!” It shouted. It started to scream again. The screaming pulled Avery’s attention from watching over his sister and Mike. He was waiting for an opening to shoot his next arrow. Unfortunately he couldn’t shoot an arrow without hitting one of the hunters. The archer instead zeroed in on the creature attacking Max and fired his second arrow. The arrow soared quickly penetrating the wendigo’s arm. The fire on the tip of the arrow spread through its body rapidly. Avery wasn’t sure what made wendigoes so flammable but he was thankful for it. Perhaps it was because their skin was so thin and parchment-like. The wendigo let go of Max’s wrist and began thrashing around screeching. Avery lit his third arrow preparing to take this thing down. He aimed it at the wendigo trying to focus. The creature was moving around too much for him to confidently shoot at it without hurting one of his allies. 

“Stay still.” Avery whispered. He followed the flaming wendigo with his arrow but couldn’t let go of the arrow. “Shit.” He muttered. Turned his attention to the one attacking Coral. Coral had minor scratches all over her torso. She didn’t seem too worried since most of them were healing as fast as they appeared. He released the arrow aiming it at the wendigoes foot. Immobilizing them would help the others the most. The arrow missed by a few inches. The mixture of anger and fear in the cave was starting to hit him. He figured being up on the ledge would separate him enough from the hormones floating around the group. Emotions were running high. He knew he only had a few more minutes before the pheromones would start hazing up his senses. When that started he had no idea how he could possibly help the others. If he survived he was going to make sure that he would find any information he could about sirens. He reached for another arrow but he was out. He turned around there was no arrows left in the bag. He could have sworn he had more. He used the lighter to search the small area around him. He looked below at the ground, could he have dropped them? No, not without noticing.

“Avery above you!” Mike yelled from underneath. He looked up to see a wendigo on a higher ledge. He had not noticed the higher ledge. There must have been another entrance to the cave from up there. The wendigoes were smart, this wasn’t just a coincidence. It was an ambush. His remaining arrows lay next to the snarling creature. The wendigo dove down at him. Avery knew facing this thing up on the ledge separated from the others was nothing but a death wish. The young hunter held his breath and dove forward off of the ledge. He held his arms out bow still in hand and tucked his head in. If his instincts were right he would land on the pile of supplies. The pile was mostly back packs with clothing. He hoped it would be soft enough for him to avoid any major damage. The jump felt like it took much longer to him than it actually did. The supplies were not as soft as he had hoped but soft enough for him land safely and keep fighting, as if he had a choice. He rolled into the fall, luckily he had landed on the side of the pile and his body naturally followed the steepness of the small hill. However he failed to find his footing and slipped on his back side all the way to the floor. The wendigo was not as graceful and came tumbling down next to him like a crash test dummy. It shook its head for a second and focused on him again snarling. It lunged at him. Avery held out his bow making sure that the wendigo’s arm went between the string and the bow itself. He turned it forcing the beast to turn with it or have its limb broken. The wendigo followed the movement falling to his side. The hunter released the bow and drew his viburnum covered knife. He brought the knife down to the palm of the creature. It charred up immediately. The wendigo shrieked in pain pulling away from the knife, the blade splitting its hand in two. It held its hand to its chest and shuffled away from Avery. Avery forced himself to push feeling this thing’s fear away. He couldn’t be compassionate to it. If their places were switched he knew it wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. No matter how had he focused his senses were still being hazed by the emotions of everyone around him. He had to move quickly. He followed the creature cornering it just under the ledge where he once stood. 

Brooks let out a howl of triumph as the wendigo he fought fell to the ground lifeless. He had several scratches on him but they were healing fast. He moved to help Avery. He could see the siren’s footing start to waiver. If the wolf waited too long the wendigo would find a chance to kill Avery. He roared in warning to the cornered beast. The wendigo lowered itself.

Roz helped Mike up from underneath the corpse of the wendigo they stabbed to death. Its body was completely charred from the herbs on their blades. How this thing managed to stay alive for so long they had no clue. Regardless they were glad that neither of them had any major scratches on their bodies. Mike took a piece of cloth from the supply pile and tied it around her thigh, she had a small cut that wouldn’t stop bleeding. She saw Max still fighting the flaming wendigo. The creature would swing at him and he barely managed to dodge its claws. Mike took one of her stars and threw it at the thing’s legs. It tripped falling into a small puddle. Max picked up his gun again and aimed it at the fallen wendigo’s head. The bullet shot directly through its skull. He waited a second to see if it would move but it lay still. He turned and shot the wendigo still attacking Coral. It was snapping its jaws at her as she held it away with her clawed hands. He shot its shoulder. The things screamed in pain, it tried to pull away from her but she took hold of its head. She used all of her strength to force its mouth closed. The crunch that was made by the creature’s jaw and fangs echoed through the cave followed by a muffled shriek. The wolf twisted her hands forcing the wendigo’s head to go with them. She let go of it letting it fall on the ground. She wiped the blood it left on her jeans. The group was all focused on the one remaining wendigo. Avery and Brooks argued about what to do with it. It was huddled down against the wall, it was smart enough to recognize when it was outnumbered. As the others defeated the group of wendigoes Avery’s senses became clearer. All he could sense was the fear emanating from the one remaining.

“Just let me kill it.” Brooks said calmly. He extended his fingers showing off his elongated claws. 

Avery shook his head. “No, we have to find out if Kit is still alive.” He turned to his sister who nodded and moved forward.

“There is no way for us to communicate with wendigoes.” She said. “We kill it, we search the caves.” Max smiled to himself. He was going to finally get the answers he wanted on his brother. “We search quickly.” Roz ordered. “We still have to get to Anna back at camp.” Max nodded. She couldn’t see him nod but she knew her orders were clear. “Kill him.” She nodded to Brooks. Coral moved to the wendigoes other side and together the two wolves snapped the creature’s neck. Mike took out two of the flares that she had and handed one to Roz. “We will go in two groups and search as quickly as possible, Anna may not have much time without us.” She motioned between Brooks, Mike, and Avery. “You three go into this opening.” She looked at Coral. “You, Max and I will go down this other opening.”

“Where is Max?” Avery asked looking around the room. 

Mike walked over to the dead wendigo and picked up a dagger. “This is his.” She told the others. The group began searching for him. 

“Help!” Max shouted from within one of the cave openings. Avery looked to Brooks, the wolf would know if it was real. Brooks nodded. To him it sounded like it was Max. 

“Can you find him?” Roz asked to the wolves. “Can you sniff him out?” The two could hear her heart beginning to thunder faster. Mike and Avery’s following as well. 

“The stench in here is too strong.” Coral admitted. “It’s hard to even pick your scent and you’re in the same room as us.

“Help me!”

The shouting sent the group into a panic. Avery could feel all of their emotions washing over him. Mostly fear and panic. Then he felt it, a pang of anger. It was feint but it was there. He tried to pin point it out but it was hard when the source wasn’t in the same room. 

“Avery?” Mike asked touching his hand. Her worry shot through him the second their skin made contact. He groaned, it felt as if she had shocked him. “Talk to me.” She demanded. He lowered himself to the ground trying to get away from the overwhelming emotions running through him. He looked at her tears welling in his eyes. Everything was blurry to him but he knew what he saw.

“Dancing lights.” He whispered half crying. “I can see the lights.” Dark blue lights danced around the people near him. His heart was banging like gun shots in the wolves’ ears, it was hard for them to ignore it. Brooks wanted to lift the siren up and carry him away from this turmoil. Avery felt the anger again, like a laser hitting his forehead. He could feel the laser through the walls of the caves. “I can find him!” The hunter groaned in pain. “I need it to be stronger!” Roz looked at him confused. “I can feel the anger!” He struggled to say. “It’s red.”

“He can sense the pheromones.” Mike said. “The music box Avery, give me the music box.” She started to search through the pocket in his jacket. If her research had been right the taking away the music box would leave Avery to deal with his powers without the buffer the box provided. He would deal with his raw power, it would be painful and strong, but it was the only thing they had left. It was hard to find the music box with Avery doubled over on the ground. He took it off and handed it to her. “The music box helps him focus his powers, like a filter.” The explained to the others. “Without it he has no choice but to feel it all at once.” She looked at the others. “We all need to touch his skin, the more emotional he feels the stronger the pheromones get.” She put her hand back on his. Avery moaned in pain. His eyes focused on a spot on the wall. The others could see a coat of cold sweat on his skin. His eyes were glassy, he looked like he was drunk.

“Do it!” His voice was carried through the cave. It hurt the wolves’ ears. It was stronger than a regular human voice. Brooks knew that the siren in Avery was at the edge of his skin, clawing at him, ripping the thin veil of self control Avery had left, begging to escape. Roz stood hesitant. Part of her had hoped that all of this supernatural talk wasn’t true. She knew it would be difficult for the other hunters to accept her brother if he was. Coral pushed Roz out of her way and put her hand on his elbow. The sense of urgency from Avery and Mike made her jumpy and move without thinking. She didn’t have to look at Avery to know how much she affected him. She could hear the jump in his heart rate, the heat of his body radiating out. Brooks touched his forearm. He figured the faster he did this the faster Avery could get through all of the pain. The young hunter was shaking but his eyes were searching the cave. He could see something the others couldn’t. He was almost there but he needed the others to push him over the edge. The pheromones in the room were starting to be less clouded. He could see trails fading in and out of his focus. Mike looked to Roz. She was the only one left.

“Help!” Max screamed again. Roz took a deep breath and tentatively reached out to touch her brother. She knew that once his powers-whatever they were-came to full use there was no turning back. She couldn’t let Max die. She closed her eyes and caressed his face. Avery screamed pulling away from her. He curled into himself and lay on the ground breathing heavily. Roz was worried, had she pushed too much on him. Avery gathered the last shred of strength he had and opened his eyes, they were all clear. The pheromones were clear trails showing him where they had all been. They were the only thing that were clear to him. Everything else was just shapeless objects in his peripheral vision. He heard one of the others speak to him but it was muffled to him. He could hear a humming calling to him. It was strong.

“Red.” He whispered following the red trail of anger. It was leading him, calling him to where Max was. It was soothing, calming, like he was following a familiar path home. He fell all over himself trying to follow the guiding lights.

Roz tried to speak to her brother but he seemed in a trance. His eyes were focused on something that wasn’t there. He acted as if she and the others weren’t there. She heard him mutter to himself before he took off running into the darkness of the second opening in the wall. She didn’t hesitate to follow. She lit the flare that Mike handed her and ran full speed behind him. She couldn’t see her brother but she could hear him talking to himself. He was chanting the word red over and over. It was enough for her to follow him. Every once in a while she could see him turning into the next cave. Brooks overlapped her and caught up to Avery. Every few second the wolf would whistle so that she could follow. Mike and Lauren were close behind her.  
Mike was holding on to his jacket like her life depended on it. She knew that once this was all over Avery would need his music box back to stay sane. She was limping slightly, the cut on her leg was becoming a dull ache. It wasn’t much but it was slowing her down. 

Brooks followed Avery as closely as he could without touching him. The siren was in a powerful pheromone fueled trance. His powers had overpowered his body but not his mind. The wolf in him was proud of how far the siren had come in just a few days. Pride didn’t muffle the overprotectiveness his wolf also felt for the younger man. Avery stopped in his step. The wolf ran into the siren’s back. It was a dead end. Avery moved his head looking around. He had a confused look on his face. The wolf feared that maybe his powers had stopped working. 

Avery could see the red dancing lights continue into the wall. There was no passage through to the other side. He knew that there was something there, there had to be something there. He pushed the wall, the red lights were calling him. He struggled against the wall to no avail. “Open!” He shouted. He began beating on the wall. It was driving him crazy to be so close to the source and still be separated. “Open!” He repeated. The wolf covered his ears in pain. The girls reached the dead end where Avery was yelling. “Open!” He continued making the wolves flinch. He could feel the anger so close, it was taking over him.   
“Avery we can find another way.” His sister tried to move him away from the wall but he pulled back. He glared at her. The flare revealed his face. It wasn’t his face, he had changed. Not drastically but enough for his sister to notice. He had always had good features but he looked like his bone structure had changed. His jaw was sharp and strong. His cheeks were high and angled. His eyes were silver, not gray silver. Flickering in the darkness like mercury. The siren in him had surfaced. Everything about him at that moment was meant purely for seducing his victims. He was predator.

“Open!” He begged softy to her. He was angry and distraught at the same time. His voice was different, smoother, soothing. The type of voice you’d expect a siren to have. The type of voice you’d follow straight to hell if it meant you could keep listening to it. He turned back to the wall conviction in his body language. He was sure that what he was following was on the other side of the wall. “Open!” He bellowed. His voice threw all of them off of their feet. It was a force. A force of pure energy. It felt as if he had gathered all of the energy in the caves and pinpointed them at the wall of stones in front of him. Avery stood still, unmoved by the force of his voice. The wall crumbled under the strain of his yell. The others watched as the cloud of dust settled. It settled to reveal Avery standing in front of another cave. It was dark but they could see shapes inside it. Something growled at Avery from within the shadows. Avery was breathing heavily. The wolves could smell the hatred rolling off of him. It wasn’t his hate it was coming from something inside. The siren took his knife and launched it into the darkness. It was pitch black not even the wolves could see inside. They heard shrieking. Mike took the last of the flares and lit it throwing it past Avery into the new cave. There was one wendigo writhing on the floor with Avery’s knife in its shoulder. They could see shapes hanging from the ceiling. People. People hanging from the ceilings. Avery moved forward stepping into the cave. The others followed him quickly not wanting to leave him alone. Avery turned to one of the people that was hung. They were dead. There was not enough of them to be able to distinguish male or female. Avery felt the hatred in him build again. Brooks and Coral could smell the anger rolling off of the siren multiplied by his powers. Both wolves roared in anger and lunged at the remaining wendigo. The hunters watched as they ripped the creature to shreds. The floor was covered in blood, the cavern stunk of the metallic scent. The moment the wendigo’s heart stopped the anger in Avery subsided to nothing. The wolves however had built themselves into a rampage. The siren had supplied them enough rage for them to continue. The two roared loudly into the cavern causing the walls to shake. Coral turned to them eyes shining gold. Her wolf was in control, and it was pissed. She extended her claws and dove at the hunters. The three of them managed to dive out of the way. It took a second to realize that she wasn’t after them. One of the figured behind them moaned in pain. Max. He was hung up by his wrist the tip of his feet just touching the floor. His expression was drowsy. Coral slashed at his abdomen audibly cutting through his flesh. He twitched for a few second before he fell motionless. Roz was the first to react. She let her silver chain around her wrist unwind. She started swinging it and moving towards the wolf. Brooks saw her and moved. “Brooks.” Avery stepped in his way. “We had a deal.” Brooks was fuming with anger. He kept moving towards Roz. “Please!” He begged. He pulled Brooks back by the arm. The instant their skin touched it was as if the wolf released all of his emotions. He looked at the siren confused. “She killed Max.” Avery said softly. He knew Coral was all that Brooks had left. He couldn’t imagine having to lose the last person in his family. But that didn't change the fact that if Brooks hurt his sister the Avery would not hesitate to protect her. 

Brooks looked over at his cousin, her hands were covered in blood. Avery had been right killing the Battalignas would not make him any happier. If anything he was sad. Heartbroken to see his cousin become the monster that the world was convinced that they already were. His family had never been violent. The wendigoes that they had killed that night weren’t about revenge, it was about protection and safety. He knew that once you killed someone innocent there was no going back. He could see the difference in her face when she turned to face Roz. She was feral. He eyes dead, even with the gold shining through them they were lifeless. He knew it was downhill from there. The injustice and shame of killing an innocent would eat away at her humanity. Soon she would become just like the wendigoes, rabid, hateful, animals. His family had always had a strict no killing the innocent rule. Technically Max was innocent, he had been a child when the massacre of his family had happened. He had wanted revenge after all of these years. Now that he had it he wasn’t so sure it was really what he needed. Regardless, Coral was his cousin and he didn’t want to see her hurt. Avery was kneeling in front of him speaking but all Brooks could hear was his own thoughts screaming in his head. 

Roz whipped he chain at the rabid wolf in front of her. Silver was deadly to wolves. Just touching it would slice into their flesh. The tip of the chain cut into Coral’s forearm. The wolf roared at the hunter but Roz just moved closer to her. Roz didn’t want to hurt Coral but Max was one of her own and she couldn’t let the wolf get away with it. She knew how a wolf who killed an innocent was affected. Most of the wolves that she and her family had hunted down were guilty of this. The more innocents they hurt the more they lost their connection to their human selves. Eventually they would be nothing but animals in human skin. Roz swung her chain again wrapping it around the wolf’s calf. She pulled upwards forcing the wolf to fall. The wolf howled in pain slashing at the chain on her leg. It was eating away at her skin sinking further and further inside. 

“I’m so sorry Coral.” The hunter whispered aiming her gun at the wolf. She turned to her brother for a second. There was nothing but remorse in her features. The wolf had helped them only to turn on them in the end. Avery was still kneeling in front of Brooks. Brooks was lost in his thought trying to block it all out. Avery nodded to his sister, they had no choice. He pulled Brooks into a tight embrace trying to shield him from any further pain. Avery figure that if he could attract the emotions of others then she could probably repel them as well. He cleared his mind trying to think of nothing but Brooks. The wolf was warm in his arm. Strong and sinewy under his skin. He felt Brooks wrap his arms around him too and pulled him in closer. He closed his eyes feeling the wolf tuck his head into the crook of his neck. The wolf was breathing heavily, his body tense in expectation. The shot of the bullet was loud inside the cave. The sound wave resonated through all of them. Avery felt the wolf jump at the sound. “We have to go.” Roz said unwinding the chain from Coral’s leg.


	14. Chapter 14 Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the wendigoes gone the hunters return to camp to try to save their colleague but they are met with unforeseen visitors.

Chapter 14: Questions

The walk out of the cave was quiet. Nobody said anything that didn’t need to be said. They had lost two from their group. They had lost them at the hands of their own. Even if it was thoroughly understood that there was really nobody to blame each person carried guild with them as they walked. Brooks blamed himself, he was a bad leader, a good leader would have been able to control Coral. Avery blamed himself, he had no control over his powers, his loss of control made Coral lose hers. Roz didn't blame herself, however she didn't feel good about hurting someone who seconds prior was an ally. The more time she spent with these wolves the blurrier and blurrier things in the supernatural world became. The group spend some time looking through the remaining caverns in search for Kit or at least his body but came up empty handed. There was countless caves, each one more disgusting than the last. Eventually Roz had to call it quits for Anna’s sake. It was a tough choice but she chose Anna. Anna had a chance to survive, Kit was surely dead. She didn't want to give up on him but she had to weigh the chances of each hunter’s survival against each other. Statistics favored Anna, Roz had no real choice. Brooks led them back towards camp. Avery led Brooks by the hand the entire time. The wolf was heartbroken but having Avery guide him out of the darkness of the cave somehow made it a little bit less painful. Oxytocin. Avery was his personal dispenser of oxytocin. Being next to the siren seemed to dull the pain, it dulled the reality of what had happened less than an hour before. Brooks wasn't ready to face reality. The walk in the woods was not as quiet as they thought it would have been. The fact that they had killed the pack of wendigoes didn’t make the forest feel any less scary at night.with the wendigoes gone the wildlife became to make noises, scratching, growling, hissing all around them. The group just stayed focused and moved forward. Roz looked at her watch. It was just past one in the morning. They had been in the caves for almost two hours, it hadn’t felt like that long. The walk back felt rough. They were tired and sore everywhere. The plants brushing up against them were starting to agitate their cuts. Avery felt exhausted from using his powers. He hoped if he got a better hold of them energy would not be a problem in the future. One more hour and they would reach camp. One more hour until they could finally help Anna.

“So I went all banshee?” Avery asked. His memory was a bit hazy after Roz touched his face. He remembered running through the caverns at full speed. He remembers the trail of red lights leading the way, and the cloud of blue lights that his group of friends left behind. He remembered the dead end and getting his emotions worked up. The next thing he remembered was throwing his dagger into the dark cave. He didn't know what was there until he hear the wendigo scream in pain. 

“Your voice still rattles in my head.” Brooks said quietly. “It was loud.”

“Well it broke through a wall of rock.” Mike reminded. She and Roz had split the medical supplies in two to carry them back to camp. Mike couldn't wait to get back to her brother and make sure he was safe. 

“What are we going to tell them?” Roz asked looking to her brother. “We can't tell them anything about Brooks.” She paused and looked at the wolf. He waited expectantly, he didn't know what exactly he was waiting for though. “They will try to hunt you down.” She explained and turned back to Avery. The group stopped walking. They had been focused on the wendigoes for so long that they hadn't thought about the questions they'd have to answer to the leaders, their parents. They had lost hunters, a full investigation would follow. And with how rivalrous the royal families were found play would definitely be considered.

“We never found Kit.” Mike said softly. “His body wasn't even in the caves.” The hunter would have to tell his parents. No matter how much they hated the Battaligna’s they didn't deserve to lose their children.

“We can tell them that Max, Kit, and Anna came here without permission,” Avery said firmly. “They were ill-prepared and didn't follow protocol when hunting, putting themselves,” He stopped. “All of us in danger.” He corrected himself. “We will tell them what happened with the wendigoes but omit the part involving the wolves.” 

“Coral’s body is in the caves too, they'll find her.” Mike reminded she didn't look at Brooks. She didn't need to see him to know the pang of pain that shot through his body at the mention of Coral’s name. “Unless we go back and move her out.” She hesitantly turned to the wolf, she was his cousin after all probably his decision to make. He shook his head solemnly. 

“Coral recognized the Battalignas and followed them here, she ambushed you after the wendigoes were taken care of.” He turned to Roz. His voice was rigid as if it physically hurt him to speak. “You killed her in self-defense. She was alone.” He tried not to show emotion in his face but Avery could feel it, the pain, and sorrow, the siren stepped closer to the wolf to comfort him. “Maybe this will be enough for their parents to call this feud over.” He cleared his throat and continued. “You didn't find Kit because you didn't have the time to look, you were in a rush to save Anna.” The hunters all nodded in agreement. They kept walking in silence each hunter repeating the story to themselves over and over in their heads. Most of the story was true so it wouldn't be hard to tell it. They had been trained for this type of thing anyways. At least Roz and Avery had. Their father would always ask them questions with a lie detector until they could pass a questionnaire with lie. It took them years to figure out how to control their heart rates but they managed. They doubted that the board of hunters would use lie detectors but the training couldn't hurt. 

Brooks stopped moving after about another half an hour. He pulled his hand away from Avery’s. Avery looked at him confused. The separation physically hurt the wolf but he knew they weren't alone anymore. “There is others?” He whispered to the three Hunter.

“What?” Avery asked he drew his knife looking around them. “More wendigoes?"

Brooks shook his head. “People.” He stated. He started taking steps back. “There is more people, a lot.” The group heard loud whirring sounds above them. The tops of the nearby trees started to sway back and forth. “More hunters.” The hunters looked at each other confused-more hunters? He pulled Avery towards him and smashed their lips together. The kiss was not romantic or soft. It was desperate and quick. It was enough to pull Avery into the moment, he knew exactly what the kiss meant for them. The wolf nodded touching the hunter’s face, studying it, he knew he wouldn't see him again. “They can’t see me.” He moved back hesitantly. Every muscle in his body wanted to take the younger man with him. His heart felt like it was breaking all over again. He had to go. “Good bye.” He waved weakly. Avery stepped forward hugging him one last time. He knew that they were going to separate but he wasn’t prepared for it to be so sudden and rushed. Now that the moment had come he didn't want to let the wolf go. It was silly to think that they could care so much for each other after only a few days but it didn't change the fact that they did.

“Bye.” The hunter whispered taking a step back. Brooks nodded to the other two before taking off into the darkness of the forest. The three stood watching him disappear into the trees. They had only known the wolf for a few days but they owed their life to him, he had become one of them in a sense. “Let’s go.” Avery said taking the two girls hands. “Anna needs these supplies.” His pace was quicker than he had been moving before. He was trying to distance himself from Brooks. He had gotten attached-to a wolf no less-and he knew that it would never last. He had to move forward and try to forget about the wolf. The three hunters jogged in silence. The closer they got to camp the more sounds they heard. They could see lights in the distance, light too strong to be anything that they had brought with them. Something big was going on back at camp.

“Rei.” Mike said quickening her steps. The three hunters ran to camp their weapons ready to attack whatever was waiting for them. 

People were swarming the camp. Dozens of them running around. Some with guns, some with medical supplies and food. The three hunters were unnoticed by the commotion the others were causing. The lights were bright and painful to their eyes. Mike searched frantically for her brother. The three moved closely in unison. The clothing the people wore bore the symbol of the Board of Hunters but they did not recognize any of their faces. It was best to keep their distance.

“Mike!” Rei called from within a small group of people. He ran towards them. The eyes of every person in the area turned to watch them. Even with all of the background noise the group felt as if they were being watched in silence.

“What’s going on?” Roz asked looking at the others around them. “Where have all these people come from?” Rei ran directly to his sister pulling her into a hug. He pulled Roz and Avery in for a group embrace. 

“I had to call the Board.” He whispered. “Anna was in horrible condition.” He said. He didn’t let go of any of them, he didn’t want anybody else to hear what he was saying. “They flew in and gave her medical attention but she didn’t make it.” He felt the other three tense up at the news. “I told them about Kit’s disappearance.” He continued. “And about the wendigoes."

“You didn’t mention Brooks and Coral did you?” Avery asked looking up. They had not had a chance to tell Rei their story. Rei shook his head.

“Or about your…” He thought for a second. “condition.” It irked Avery to hear him state it that way, but he knew Rei meant well. “They questioned me for like an hour, they’ll do the same for you.” Avery looked into the surrounding crowd. He spotted a body bag in the distance. Anna. Her parents kneeled next to her weeping. Avery could feel the pain and heartbreak wafting from them. It was a heavier heartache than anything he had ever felt, he didn't need siren powers to know that.

“Her parents are here?” Roz asked looking at them. “Should we go pay our condolences?” The group watched as the pair wept for their daughter. 

“Your parents are here too.” Rei said. Roz and Avery turned to him quickly. “They flew in directly from Chicago.” Roz searched the crowd for her parents. She saw a large tent past the bulk of the crowd. It was most likely where they were. “The Battalignas are here too.” He added. He looked over them. “Where is Max?” It took him a while to notice the hunter was missing. Roz shook her head solemnly. She had always hated the Battalignas with a passion, but even they deserved better than what they were dealt. 

“Coral lost control.” Mike said.

“Because of me.” Avery sighed. The wolf was high on his powers and it had gotten the best of her. Roz took his hand and squeezed it. 

“Stop.” She whispered sternly. “There is nothing to feel guilty of.” Avery opened his mouth to respond but was stopped by the presence he felt behind him.

“Roslyn.” It was her father. The group turned to face the tall blond man. He was in his undershirt and running shorts. He and his wife had been sleeping when they received the call from Rei. “Come with me please.” He reached out for her. “We have some question for you.” He spoke completely monotone. He showed no emotion, he had to be impartial even if this was one of his children. Roz followed her father into the large tent. Avery could feel her panic, the council was always a scary ordeal. Avery and Mike were escorted into separate areas of the camp. They were going to be isolated from each other until the board had a chance to question them all. 

Avery sat on the ground drawing circles on the dirt in front of him with his knife.

“Avery.” His mother called from behind him. She ran to him. She was still wearing her nightgown with a jacket over it. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun. “Thank goodness you’re safe.” She hugged him tightly. Avery saw Amber Battaligna, Kit and Max’s mother. She was glaring at him, one of her sons was dead and the other missing and she blamed him. He could feel the anger from her. It was a confusing feeling to feel his mother’s relief mixed with the other mother’s hatred. His mother looked him over checking the scratches on his torso. 

“Mom, I’m fine.” He pushed her hands away as gently as he could. “What is going on?” 

“Hunny, two hunters are dead and a third is missing, all of royal blood.” She moved his hair out of his face. His hair was matted in some places and completely tangled in others. “The board has to investigate.” Avery looked in her eyes. He recognized his mother but she looked different to him. This was the first time he had seen her since he found out who he really was. What-he really was. She had lied to him his entire life. The lie-it changed everything for him. She was not the same person in his eyes. The realization confused him, angered him. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked whispering as soft as he could, there was too many ears around them feel safe to   
speak normally. She looked at him confused. “About what I am.” He added. He could feel tears welling from the frustration he felt. It was hard for him to contain the emotions brought on from the betrayal. 

“We were trying to protect you.” She wiped the tears from his face. “The others they would have killed you, the necklace was the only way we knew how to do it.”

“You could have told me.” He felt tears running down his face. His face felt cold from the tears streaking his cheeks. “I feel like a fraud.” He sobbed. “All this time I wasn’t just the common blood, I was the enemy disguised as your child!” His mother shook her head teary eyed. It hurt her to see her son in pain. It hurt her to hear him voice so much self-hatred. “I thought I was losing my mind!” His voice grew louder. She shushed him before anyone else could hear him. “I could have lost my mind and become one of those things!” He took the papers Mike had given him and showed them to her. “I could have become…” She took the papers from him and hid them in her jacket as quick as she could. She shushed him again. She understood why he was angry but this wasn’t the time to talk about it.

“Avery Bishops.” Avery turned to see Paulo Battaligna. From the way Paulo stood, and the way he spoke to Avery it was clear that he had no doubt Avery was to blame. “Please come with me.” Avery stood and turned to follow him. 

“It’s going to be okay sweetheart.” She tried to soothe him but he just glared at her in anger. He left without responding. Paulo was quiet leading Avery to the tent. They passed his wife Amber and she made no attempt to hide her distain for the younger hunter. Although Avery felt sorrow for her loss he still stood by his original statement. The Battaligna brothers were not fit to be out on their own yet. The tent seemed larger than he had imagined it would be. They had several tables set up inside with only four chairs. Two of the tables were set up along the back wall of the tent. Different foods and drinks were set up. He was led there first and encouraged to take whatever he pleased. He was starving, not to mention dying to taste real food again. His last few meals consisted mainly of granola bars and canned food, sustaining but not appetizing. He wasn’t sure is the buffet was some sort of power play or something but he didn’t care. He took a plate and began to look through the food available. Two yards behind him sat the third table with all four chairs. Three on one side, one on the other. He figured he was to sit on the one side by himself. The other three chairs were for three of the Board of Hunters members. His father, Paulo, and Mrs. Felkent-Avery didn’t know her or her husband’s name- were the three members. They were going to interrogate him about what happened during the hunt. This wasn’t usual protocol but when hunters died they needed to make sure that there was no foul play. Considering the arguments that ensued when the hunt was discovered they had every reason to suspect foul play in this case. Avery sat across from the members with a plate. He had only taken a glass of lemonade and a handful of bacon pieces with toast. 

“Max, and Anna are dead. Kit is missing.” His father began. Avery had thought that they would let him eat first. He nodded acknowledging his father’s statement. He wasn't sure whether to push his food aside or continue to chew.

“My condolences.” He said to the other two members. Mrs. Felkent nodded solemly, she seemed to believe his words. Paulo however was stone faced his eyes steady on Avery. 

“Walk us through the events that happened these last couple of days.” Paulo said calmly. Avery hadn’t noticed the notebook each member had in their hands. He took a bite of his toast. His hunger overpowered his nerves.

“We arrived in Boulder, Colorado about three days ago.” Avery began. “We had a flat tire so we spent the night in a motel. We used the next day to ask around about the killings hoping to find more information while the tire was fixed but came up empty.” Paulo nodded writing things down as Avery spoke. “We left early the next morning arriving to the edge of the woods about an hour later. We hiked for several hours and met two other hikers. They were here searching too. They showed us a map that taught us the wendigoes hunting patterns across the U.S. and Canada. They had news clippings of cases dating back decades.”

“The hikers, what were their names?” Paulo interrupted.

“Noah and Logan.” Avery answered. He continued with his report. “We walked for a few more hours ending up here and decided to set up camp.”

“At what point did you cross paths with the other hunters.” Paulo asked interrupting again.

“They interrupted us while setting up camp,” Avery leered. “Much like you keep interrupting my report.” He could feel the distain the older hunter held for him. The more he sat near him the more it affected him. He turned to face the other two members across from him. “We heard rustling in the bushes behind us. Mike reacted quickly and threw one of her stars, hitting Kit’s side.” He sighed. “A fight ensued like it always does when our two families collide.” He looked at Battaligna. The man just nodded knowing that he could not deny truth in the statement. “We noticed that the other group was not properly equipped for this situation and we made them join our group per them breaking the code of hunting ethics.” 

“Can you specify their situation for us as far preparedness?” Mrs. Felkent asked not looking up from her notebook. Avery sighed impatiently.

“For starters they were out here without the council’s permission. Or did you two allow them to intrude on our hunt?” He asked. Both Paulo and Felkent looked up at him confused.

“Avery you are here to be questioned not to question.” His father reminded him sternly. “Now, answer the question.” His father was trying to keep is composure. 

“I’m just saying their antics endangered them and us.” Avery answered looking directly into his father’s eyes. To others it seemed he was defiance but they both knew that Avery was right. His father took no offense from his son’s statement. Regardless he kept his face stoic. “They had no food, water, camping supplies, or any weapons aside from guns and knives.” He continued. “We set up camp and used viburnum to create a safety circle. We would have been safe but an animal broke it.” The three older hunters continued to write. “We went to check and we heard a scream. Kit ran towards it without assessing the situation, I was forced to follow after him. The wendigoes smelled his blood and chased us. We didn’t make it back to safety because the things caught us. Mike tried to help but she was dragged away from camp too. Mike and I managed to wound the wendigoes with our knives and hide in a small rock formed cave for the night. Kit was missing by then.” Paulo’s façade faltered for a second at the mention of his son. “The next day we returned to camp with the others. Roz, Max and I searched for Kit the entire day returning back to camp before sundown. The others stayed here preparing and researching for anything that would help us fight wendigoes.” His father pointed to the papers from Mike’s book about wendigoes. Avery nodded. “That night we prepared to fight by taking down the viburnum because we needed it to kill the creatures. As soon as the circle was down they attacked, that was when Anna was injured.” He looked down knowing Mrs. Felkent would flinch at that thought. “We killed off two of them before realizing a third had stolen our supplies.”

“Is that why you left Rei and Anna here?” His father asked. 

“Yes, after we patched her up as best as we could we surrounded them in viburnum and left in search for supplies and Kit.” He answered. “We knew there was a cave system a couple of hours from here and headed that way.”

“And?” Paulo asked.

“They were there.” Avery said coldly to him. “We fought them and managed to get some supplies back.”

“How many of them?” The older hunter asked.

“You really need to stop interrupting me.” Avery snapped. His father put his fist on the table. He didn’t have to slam it to get his point across to his son. “We counted about 8 including the two at camp.” He answered the question clearly annoyed. “The wendigoes kidnapped Max but we searched the caverns until we found him.” He stopped looking away. “However when we thought we were safe we were ambushed by a werewolf. Roz killed her but not before the wolf had killed Max.” His voice had grown softer. “She said something about your family hunting down all of hers.” He looked at Paulo. “It was her revenge for her family.”

“What about kit?” His father asked. “did you search for him?” Avery nodded.

“We could not find him, not even his body.” Avery responded. “Then we returned here to find you all waiting for us.” The members wrote in their notebooks quietly for a few seconds. 

“You were the last person to see him yes?” Mrs. Felkent asked. Avery nodded. He knew this was coming, they were going to blame him for Kit’s disappearance.

“I was there when the wendigoes dragged him away.” The young hunter answered. 

“Did you try to help him?” His father asked. “As he was being dragged away?” He specified his question. It was hard for Avery to hear an accusing tone from his father, but he knew that he was just following protocol.

“No,” Avery shook his head firmly. All three members of the council looked up at him in shock. “I wanted to.” He added, he knew what they were thinking. “but, I was against three wendigoes and had no back up, my only weapon was my pistol. There was no way that I would have survived.” The explanation seemed to put Felkent and his father somewhat at ease. “The wendigoes were using him as bait to pull me in.” He explained. “I ran for camp instead.” The council members returned their attention to their notebooks forcing the room to sit in silence.

“You dislike my boys don’t you?” Paulo asked after a few minutes of silence. He set his notebook down. Avery could see the word GUILTY written at the bottom.

“I dislike all of you.” Avery answered. “But regardless you are hunters like me and we have a code to protect each other.” He thought for a second. “If that is what you’re implying.” He added looking directly at the notebook. Paulo didn’t respond. Avery didn’t need a response to know that that was in fact what the older man was implying.

“Can you explain the bag filled with your clothing covered in Kit’s blood?” His father asked. He reached beneath the table and showed him the inside. The council had samples of all of their blood in case something like this happened.

“That was the clothes I wore when we first encountered the wendigoes.” Avery explained. None of the three members reacted to his words. “Kit fell landing on his wounded side and the cut opened up again. We ran for several minutes, the movement made it worse. I had to support him for most of the run back to camp, naturally his blood got on my clothes.”

“If I recall correctly, you said the wound on his side was minor,” Paulo cut in. “This is a lot of blood for a “Minor” wound.”

“Do you also recall the part where I said he fell?” Avery retorted back calmly. He left just enough sharpness in his voice to let Paulo know that he was not intimidated. “Your sons and I had a rivalry it’s no secret, but outside of hunter gatherings I never really paid them any attention.” Paulo didn’t like that. Avery knew that he shouldn’t have found any pleasure in Paulo’s discomfort but it was hard to ignore years and years of disliking each other. “I had no reason to go after them.” Avery said. “Any more questions?” He asked. Felkent shook her head. He turned his attention to his father, he shook his head as well. Paulo didn’t say or do anything. It didn’t matter what Avery did or say the older hunter was convinced that he was responsible for his sons’ deaths. “I’ll take that as a no.” He took his plate of food and walked towards the exit. He stopped before unzipping it open. “All three of your children knew the dangers that they could encounter out here.” He looked at the council directly. “With that in mind they still chose to ignore the code and come out here unprepared and poorly trained.” The members were quiet. Nothing he had said was a lie. “The others and I can’t be held responsible for their blatant negligence of everything we were trained to do.” He left the tent without waiting for a reply. Once outside he immediately found his sister who was seated by the fire with Mike and Rei.

“How did it go?” Mike asked moving over so he could sit next to Roz.

“Nothing like being accused of murder.” He said. “They think I have something to do with Kit’s disappearance, I was after all the last person to see him.” He saw Amber still glaring from across camp. “I’m sure they’ll do all that they can to try and find me guilty.”

“Dad won’t let that happen.” His sister said leaning against him. “Naomi has nothing against you either, she knows that Anna came here of her own free will.” She said. 

Mrs. Felkent’s names is Naomi. Avery thought to himself. “We’ll see.” The group of hunters sat closely in silence watching the fire that had been built. The rest of camp bustled around them. The four fell asleep huddled together


	15. Chapter 15 Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt is over, the truth is mostly out. Avery has some decisions to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know people aren't really reading this but I enjoy the whole writing thing. I already started a part two to this story. I think I'm going to post it here too.

Chapter 15: Normal

The young hunters were flown back to Chicago ten hours after they were questioned. They were each interviewed several times. The council made them handover everything they had for investigation. Avery was thankful that he had given his mother the pages on sirens, he wasn't sure how they could have been used against him unless they knew he was one. Either way he didn't want to risk it. The private jet back to Chicago only took a few hours. Roz’s SUV would be driven back by one of her father’s workers. The council found it necessary to search the cave system and further investigate Kit’s disappearance after the four hunters left. He was not found, there was no trail to follow. It was as if he had just walked away from the situation. The Battalignas stayed in the woods to help search for their son. Several other hunting families from the surrounding states swarmed in to help. Not because they cared about them or Kit for that matter, but because they wanted to weasel their way into the top tier of the hunting world.

Flo stopped talking to Avery after the whole ordeal. He understood, it didn’t make it hurt any less. The way things were left with Flo made Avery miss Brooks more than he already did. It was probably for the better. Avery and the others decided to keep a low profile, well as low as they could. The council forced them to attend group therapy together to make sure they were not mentally scarred from what had happened. They all were to some degree. The counseling didn't really help, they had to speak in code for most of it to keep their secrets hidden, and Avery couldn't talk about his real issues at all. His identity crisis and siren dilemma had nothing to do with the original hunt, they just happened to appear at the same time. 

While therapist attempted to clear their minds, the council ordered to have the caverns raided to retrieve Max and the wendigoes. They needed to clean things up leaving nothing behind. They could not have non-hunters finding anything and searching deeper into it. The search continued for two weeks with nothing to show for it. The council called it quits much to the Bataligna’s dismay. They demanded that the council reinvestigate the whole thing but they were just beating a dead horse. They held a funeral for their sons in California. A funeral that neither Roz or Avery were allowed to attend. The Felkents on the other hand allowed them to attend their daughter’s. Avery had wished he hadn’t attended, the funeral was a mockery of Anna’s life. The other hunters in attendance spoke only of who would replace her and the Battalignas. The hunters had not been dead two weeks and already families were competing to have their children join the deadly dozen. Throwing their kids into danger. In a way figuring he was a siren was a good thing, finally Avery had something to mentally separate himself from the petty hunters.

Mike and Rei stayed with the Bishops until they were ready to return home. They showed no interest in returning anytime soon. Roz and Rei spent most of their time together. They were an item, a gossip worthy piece of news. Them being together meant that the two families were tied. Neither family had any complaints. The two families were powerful alone, together they were unstoppable. Add that to the fact that their children were leading the deadly dozen. Avery and Mike let their siblings take first and second ranking, Roz of course was first, the battalignas didn't like that either. Avery was content with third and Mike as well with fourth.

Aside from their hunting duties Avery remained quiet for days much to his parents’ dislike. He didn’t know what to say to them. He was still angry. He felt betrayed about the secrecy of what he really was. The other hunters had always made him feel like he was an outsider, now he knew that he actually was. He felt like an imposter, living a fabricated life. He and Mike researched more about sirens, his powers were active now, and there was no way to hide them. Aside from hiding himself. He locked himself in his room for the majority of the time. His mother had slipped his necklace under his door. It wouldn’t put his powers to sleep again it would just stifle them. He wore the piece anyway because he was still a Bishops. He may not be very happy with his family at the moment but he had no intention of disowning them.  
.................

One night when he was restless and unable to fall asleep he wondered into the living room where his mother sat silently holding a box. He wanted to keep on ignoring her but the box had his name on it. He moved slowly closer to see what it was.

“What is that?” He had to ask. She was startled by his voice. She didn't turn to look at him but he knew she was crying. He hated to see any part of his family in pain, especially since he was behind it. 

“Sit with me sweetheart.” She said moving in the seat she was sitting in. It was a one person seat so he had to sit on the arm rest. The box was filled with papers, and small baby items, a bracelet made from beads he hadn't seen before. “She was beautiful.” His mother said looking into the box. He didn't know what she was talking about. She began to look through the papers and pulled out a picture. It was worn and one of the corners was ripped. It was a young woman smiling and holding a baby. His mother was right the woman was beautiful. She had thick, long, and dark hair. Her skin a luminous bronze to match her chocolate almond shaped eyes. Her features were gorgeous in a threatening sort of way. She reminded Avery of fire, beautiful and alluring but clearly dangerous. He turned to the infant in her arms. He recognized the baby and the toy the toy monkey that he held. He had one identical to it when he was a child. 

“Is that?” He asked. He spoke softly his voice breaking on the second word. She nodded sniffling. It was him, and his birth mom. His biological mother. He could feel emotion creeping up his chest. He honestly never thought he'd be emotional about this moment but he was. He had never seen any pictures of himself or his biological family. Maybe they could have answers about his siren. He reached for the picture unsure if he was allowed to touch it. He had never really known much about his mother or his family. He didn't even know where he was from. He just knew that some supernatural creature had left him orphaned and the Bishops adopted him. 

“Her name was Ava.” His mother informed. “It's why I named you Avery.” His name came from his mother’s. The closeness in names made him feel like he had a connection to her.

“I had always assumed that you wanted a name close to yours.” He chuckled. Avery and Evelyn were close enough he had always thought. She shook her head. 

“She was a siren too.” She said. “It's part of the reason why she was killed.” He couldn't take his eyes off of her picture. He studied every detail recognizing the things that he had in common with her. 

“What happened?” He asked. 

“Her powers attracted the wrong person, he found out about her powers and used them against her.”

“How?”

“He stole a little harmonica she had inherited from her father.” She responded. He pulled out the music box from his pocket looking it over. He remembered how he felt when Mike took it from him down in the cave. He couldn't imagine how Ava-his mother could have felt.

“And she went crazy.”He finished. His mother nodded solemnly. It was just like Mike had told him. 

“How did she die?” He asked even part of him didn't want to know the answer to that. 

“Some Hunter down in Central America caught her trail. She had been using her powers on other people, it led to a lot of violence in her town. Her mother called your father and I, we had helped her with something before.” Her mother, his grandmother. “By the time we got there it was too late. They had killed her, luckily they were not yet aware of you.” She squeezed his knee. “Your grandmother gave you to us and we fled bringing you back here.” She reached into the box again and pulled out the bracelet. The beads were all different vibrant colors, in the center was a long tubular bead. She turned it so he could see the front of it. There was small gold letters on it. Abraham Aguilar. “It was the name she gave you.” She explained. He wasn't prepared for that. “She asked us to change it to protect you.” The emotions in his chest had finally reached his eyes. He had begun to cry without realizing it. So many people had fought to keep him safe, to keep him alive. He understood now why his mother did the thing she had done. “Avery,” She touched his face wiping some tears away. “We had to keep it a secret, when a siren’s powers are activated they can begin to attract other supernatural beings.” She touched his family emblem. “It’s something you can’t help, it is innate.” 

“A siren’s song.” He whispered. His mother nodded. 

Just being alive will put his family in danger. It already killed his birth mother. He would become a problem if he stayed there with them. He decided things needed to change, he needed to change. He couldn’t stay at home with his parents any longer. His father was one of the council members, hunters were coming in and out of their home at all times. If any of them found out about his powers his family could lose everything. They could be found as traitors to the other hunters. He would be blamed for the death of Max and Kit. Not to mention the threat of powerful supernatural creatures coming after his powers. He needed to keep his distance from the others. Staying would make him a liability. Enough people had suffered because of what he was. He didn’t know what he would do, he had never been on his own. He didn’t even really know how to cook for himself. He’d have to learn he supposed. He'd have to learn to do everything on his own.  
……………….  
Avery had informed his family of his decision and began to pack his things. His parents tried to stop him but he refused. Just because they had the capacity to defend themselves from an attack at any time it didn’t mean that they should have to. He felt terrible to see his mother cry again. He assured her and his father that this would hopefully only be until he learned to control his siren. Until then he’d rather be alone. He couldn’t stay, not with the Battaligna’s convinced that he was responsible for their son’s death. He didn’t pack much just clothing. Most of his belonging were actually his parents. He decided we wouldn’t even take his car with him, he needed to be untraceable and separated as he could possibly be. He was going to find someplace where the council didn’t have much connections, so big cities were out of the question. HE should be safe from the majority of supernatural creatures there too, most of them hunted near cities where they could prey on people. His father had his inheritance transferred into untraceable accounts in case he needed them. Avery hesitated to take the money but gave in when he realized he would need money to start over and hold himself over until he found another way to make a living. He didn’t tell them where he was going, he didn’t know where he was going himself. Roz was the only one who had his new number. As much as he wanted to be hidden he would still have to attend hunter gatherings to avoid any suspicions from the others. He was currently ranked in the top four of the deadly dozen, he’d be required to attend. In a few months the council would induct three new hunters into the deadly dozen to replace Anna, Kit, and Max and he would be expected to be there.   
…………………  
He was up early the day of his departure. His family was too. Mike and Rei of course were too. His mother made them all breakfast and it began almost the same as every other day. They spoke about normal things like they usually did: possible hunts, training, the latest episode of whatever show they were currently watching, and of course the weather. Avery knew it was mostly for his sake. They ate slowly as if that would delay the inevitable. Avery didn't tell them that he had already chosen were he would be going to make sure he wasn't followed. He refused to let any of them drop him off at the train station, they didn't even know which station we would be heading to. After breakfast he would gather his things (making sure to check for any location devices) hug them goodbye and leave the building alone. Part of him wanted to say screw it all and stay, whatever happened would be dealt with as a family. The other part of him didn't want to put his family through that, if he was found out then he could make up some story about how he became a siren and hopefully his family would avoid going down in flames with him. 

Saying goodbye was hard. It didn’t help that even his father cried. Avery had only seen him do that a couple of times in his life. Once when his grandmother died and the other when his mother had a miscarriage when he and Roz were very young. Avery held his tears back as much as he could which was almost impossible since he could feel everybody else’s flooding at him. It was hardest to say separate from his sister. As long as he could remember it was the two of them together. She was the only constant in his life. They had not been apart from each other for more than a few days. When they were young their parents would leave on hunts for weeks at a time and she would take care of him-with their maids’ help of course. He had always had a big sister, he didn’t know if he could live without her. She had never abandoned him and now he was abandoning her. They didn’t say anything to each other because they knew nothing they could say would make them feel better. He just pulled her into a tight hug. Her sadness was tangible to him. It was like a wall knocking him back when she stepped into his embrace. He would miss talking to her every day, sitting on the couch watching television for hours, all the little competitions they held while training. He kissed the top of her head when they finally pulled away from each other. 

“It like the end of an era.” She said mimicking Rachel Green from F.R.I.E.N.D.S.-their favorite show.

“I know!” He responded mimicking Monica Gellar as best as he could. The two laughed meekly acting as if they weren’t crying. The group stood awkwardly in silence for a few seconds. “Well I should go.” Avery said picking up his bags. He had only packed two. His duffle bag was filled with clothes and his back pack was filled with the other essentials he thought he would need. “Bye.” He nodded at his family and stepped into the elevator. He turned to push the button only to see the group watching him go. It was a relief when the doors closed in front of him. He was left alone with only his emotions, his emotions he could deal with. He supposed now he could be alone with his emotions for a while. The elevator ride down felt like he was descending into the unknown abyss. In a way he was, he had no idea what the world held for him. He could deal with the hunting world and the supernatural world but the normal world he had no clue how that worked. His parents always told him that the most dangerous animals were humans, they were unpredictable. The doors opened with a small ding signaling he had arrived at the lobby. He took a deep breath and stepped out. He had done this many times before but this time was different, he didn’t know when he was coming back or if he was coming back. He nodded at the doorman as he stepped out of the building. It felt weird walking down the streets of Chicago. He was making this big life changing walk and everyone else around him was just going about their normal day. He felt selfish thinking that the world should be changing since he was changing but he figured everyone went through something similar. It didn’t take long for him to arrive at the Amtrak train station his family lived only a few blocks from it. He headed straight to the ticket line. He was going to buy a ticket that took him the farthest away from home. He looked over all of his possible destinations, they sounded amazing and disgusting at the same time. The line moved slowly, he was getting annoyed. It felt like it was bringing his big life change to a screeching halt, like an intermission in a play but without background music.

“You honestly didn’t think you were going to leave without me did you?” The voice was light and airy, a sound he had grown accustomed to during the last few weeks. He turned to see Mike standing behind him. She had a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. 

“Mike what are you doing here?” He looked around expecting to see Roz hiding somewhere. This seemed like something that his sister would do like this was some vacation. He didn't spot anyone else, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

“I’m coming with you.” She smiled. 

“No.” He answered still confused.

“Yeah, I am.” She motioned for him to move forward with the line. “You know nothing about the real world.”

“Neither do you.” He remarked. “So let’s be lost together.” She giggled. “We can make it an adventure.” She added. “One we could possibly die horribly in,” She said admittedly. That caught the attention of an elderly woman standing in front of them. Mike smiled at her sweetly until she turned back around. “But one that I’m not going to let you go on alone.”

“This isn’t an adventure Mike,” He rolled his eyes. “I have to do this to keep everyone safe. Being here in Chicago is deadly to all of us.” The woman turned again.

“Nosey lady,” Mike said. “Eyes front please.” She pointed to the front. The woman scoffed and turned. “Look, I told you before, I don’t have any friends.” She looked down almost ashamed. “Then you came along and became my best friend.” She looked up at him to gage his reaction. He was smiling down at her. It wasn't often that someone called him a friend, and here was Mike announcing it to the world. “Best friends stick together.” She smiled shyly. “Right?”

“You’re getting lonely now that Rei and Roz are together aren’t you?” Avery laughed. He actually liked the idea of having Mike along with him for the ride of whatever was coming his way. She was right, they could experience the real world together. “Are you sure?” He asked her. She nodded excitedly. “Best friends stick together.” He repeated her thought. He put his hand out and she shook it happily. 

“Where are we going anyways?” She asked.

“I don’t know.” He turned back to look at the pricing chart. “Somewhere south.” He shrugged. “I haven’t chosen yet.” He looked over the cities that the Amtrak led to. He wasn’t really interested in any of them. 

“Hence the adventure.” They heard a deep voice respond. Avery caught the scent of sandalwood. He knew it was wishful thinking to think it was the werewolf, but his senses were all in overdrive from the possibility. He turned to see Brooks approaching them. It felt like it was all happening so fast but so slow at the same time. The wolf smiled brightly at him. Nervousness floating around him no matter how composed…and exaggeratedly handsome he looked. The siren started to say something to the wolf but he didn’t really know what to say. He honestly wasn’t expecting to see Brooks here. Honestly the whole scene of him, Brooks, and Mike felt like the ending of some cheesy coming of age movie…or book.

“Seriously?” Avery asked Mike. “How many of you guys are here?” Brooks smiled pulling him into a hug. It wasn’t that Avery wasn’t happy to see him, he was just caught off guard. Avery let his bags drop to properly embrace the wolf. He placed his face close Brooks as possible taking in the scent and warmth that he had missed since they had parted in the woods. Brooks did the same with Avery's hair.

Mike shrugged. “He’s not with me?” She waved at the wolf. Brooks pulled her into a hug too, though not as intimate at the one he gave Avery.

“Brooks what are you doing here?” Avery asked. Brooks still had his arm around him. “How did you find us?” He could feel the happiness radiating off of the wolf. Brooks kept running a hand up and down his back. 

“I followed your sister’s car back here.” The wolf answered looking down. “I felt like a stalker but I missed you.” He admitted. Avery couldn’t help but smile at the wolf’s words. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you, it was driving me crazy.” To be honest Avery thought about him too, often. Avery looked between the wolf and the other Hunter, they both risked so much for him, they both wanted to be a part of the next chapter in his life. What more could he ask for?

“I’ll go get us two tickets.” Mike said moving forward in line. She winked at Avery moving past him. Avery smiled clearly she was just trying to give them both space.

“Umm, three.” Brooks called after her. That caught both of the hunters’ attention. Brooks’s face became solemn. “Coral was all I had.” He said softly. “Being alone isn’t safe for a wolf.” He whispered. He was right werewolves always lived in packs. “Sirens aren’t meant to be alone either.” He added. All of the Greek myths Avery had read years ago came rushing back, sirens were always in groups of three. “Until you learn how to control yourself I want to be there to protect you.” The wolf smiled at him. Avery had grown up with people protecting him but this, this felt different. 

“Are you sure?” Avery asked. “My powers attract all types of creatures.” He informed. Brooks thought about it for a second.

“I can’t stay in Colorado, not now that Coral is gone.” His smile faded at the thought of what his life used to be. “We all need a fresh start.” He said. “Why not start this all together?” He looked expectantly at Avery. Avery could feel Mike’s eyes on him too, she was waiting for him to tell her what to do. He turned to look at her.

“What do you think?” He asked. 

“What the hell.” She shrugged. “We can be the three musketeers or something.” She winked at Brooks and turned back to buy tickets. “Just don’t make me a third wheel please.” She whispered low enough so that only Brooks could hear her. She left the two guys standing alone.

“So…” Avery began. He had not expected running into the wolf again, he didn’t know where the two stood. 

“So,” The wolf repeated awkwardly. He had anticipated finding Avery again he had just hoped things would be a bit more romantic. Definitely less awkward. “How have you been?” He asked trying not to laugh, awkward silences always made him laugh. He couldn’t help it. 

“Good.” Avery answered. “You?”

“Lonely.” Brooks answered. 

Avery reached out to touch his arm but stopped himself. “How do I know it’s not my powers doing all of this to you?” He motioned between the two of them. Brook sighed.

“I don’t know.” He moved his arm closer to Avery’s hand. “I just know how I feel right now.” He still had his hand on Avery's back, he pulled the siren closer. “And I know I still felt the same way when you were hundreds of miles away.”

“I think I can work with that.” The younger man responded. He put an arm around Brooks’s shoulder and led him towards the waiting section of the station. The two men sat down in the far corner of the room away from the crowd and waited for Mike to return with the tickets.

“What do you plan to do when we get…wherever we are going?” Brooks asked. 

Avery sighed. “I don’t know try to blend in, be normal.” 

“Normal.” Mike repeated walking up to them. She handed each of them a ticket. She slouched into the seat next to Avery. “That sounds like it’s going to be interesting.”


End file.
